Law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil, insolvency and criminal procedure law
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil, insolvency and criminal procedure law |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Issued on the basis of: | Art. 74 para. 1 nos. 1 and 11 GG |
| Legal matter: | Bankruptcy law , company law , criminal procedure law , civil law |
| References : | 311-19, 4121-6, 312-1, 400-1 |
| Issued on: | March 27, 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 569 ) |
| Entry into force on: | March 28, 2020 |
| GESTA : | C136 |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil, insolvency and criminal procedure law was passed by the legislature as particularly urgent. It is a mantle law that temporarily because of in Germany COVID-19 pandemic lays down specific provisions for different areas of private and of economic life.
structure
The coat law is divided into six articles:
Article 1 Act on the temporary suspension of the obligation to file for insolvency and on the limitation of directors' liability in the event of insolvency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
Article 2 Law on measures in company, cooperative, association, foundation and residential property law to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
In order to put the affected companies of various legal forms in a position to take the necessary resolutions and to remain capable of acting even if the restrictions on the possibilities of assembly continue to exist, the law on measures in company, cooperative, association, foundation and residential property law is aimed at combating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on 27 March 2020 temporarily relief for the conduct of general meetings of joint stock company (AG), the partnership limited by shares (KGaA), the insurance association a. G. (VVaG) and the European Company (SE) as well as for shareholders' meetings of the limited liability company (GmbH), of general and representative meetings of the cooperative as well as general meetings of associations .
The option of holding general meetings of stock corporations, especially public companies, without the physical presence of shareholders or their authorized representatives ( virtual general meeting ) should be emphasized . This is a novelty in German company law.
This measure is flanked by a considerably restricted possibility for shareholders to ask questions by means of electronic communication and the possibility of declaring contradictions to the protocol also by means of electronic communication. The regulation is limited to general meetings that will be held in 2020.
Article 3 Amendment of the Introductory Act to the Code of Criminal Procedure
In § 10 Introductory Act to the Criminal Procedure Code (EGStPO) is an additional inhibition offense for the interruption period a criminal trial inserted if it can not be carried out due to measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Article 4 Further amendments to the Introductory Act to the Code of Criminal Procedure on March 27, 2021
The period of validity of Section 10 EGStPO new version is limited to one year until March 27, 2021.
Article 5 Amendment of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code
In Art. 240 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code (EGBGB) new version, special regulations for consumers , rental and lease agreements and consumer loan agreements are introduced for a limited period of time . Debtors who are unable to meet their contractual payment obligations due to the COVID-19 pandemic are entitled to temporarily refuse their performance without any adverse legal consequences such as termination of the contract due to late payment being linked to this. According to the will of the legislature, however, the element of “resting” is to be interpreted generously. Rent and lease payments remain due, however, only the right to cancel does not apply if the failure to pay is due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (Art. 240 § 2 EGBGB: “despite due date”). Landlords should therefore be able to fall back on the deposit. The protection of the consumer is at the forefront of the corona-related changes to general civil law, with companies, landlords and banks being more heavily burdened because the legislature assumes that they will be better able to cope with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Art. 240 EGBGB new version is therefore also seen as an “expression of solidarity based on the welfare state”.
Article 6 Entry into force, expiry
Art. 6 regulates a separate period of validity for the individual legislative changes. Art. 1 comes into force on March 1, 2020. Art. 2 comes into force on March 28, 2020 and expires on December 31, 2021. Art. 3 also comes into force on March 28, 2020 and expires on March 27, 2021. Art. 5 comes into force on April 1, 2020, Art. 240 EGBGB comes into force on September 30, 2022 again.
See also
literature
- Silvio Sittner: Tenancy law practice under Covid-19 . In: New legal weekly . No. 17 , 2020, p. 1169-1174 .
- Eberhard Vetter, Jörgen Tielmann: Corporate law changes in the times of Corona . In: New legal weekly . No. 17 , 2020, p. 1175-1180 .
Web links
- Basic information on the law
- Legal text in the 2020 Federal Law Gazette Part I No. 14, issued in Bonn on March 27, 2020
Individual evidence
- ↑ BGBl. I p. 569, 570
- ^ Carlo Pöschke: Legislators' reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic - Part 1: Insolvency and company law. In: Juraexamen.info. May 18, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Corona aid package and other options: When money is running out, North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center, March 30, 2020.
- ^ A b Carlo Pöschke: Legislators' reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic - Part II: General civil law. In: Juraexamen.info. May 20, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Oliver Elzer: Corona pandemic: The new rental regulations. In: https://community.beck.de/ . VERLAG CHBECK oHG, March 26, 2020, accessed on April 1, 2020 .
