Bankruptcy moratorium

A federal law authorized the government to institute a moratorium on creditors from initiating bankruptcy proceedings against their counterparties. The moratorium will be introduced in case of emergencies of a natural and man-made nature, as well as in case of significant changes in the ruble exchange rate and other circumstances that threaten the stability of the economic situation in the country.

Applications by creditors to declare a debtor bankrupt submitted to the Arbitrazh court during the moratorium, as well as submitted before the date of the moratorium, the adoption of which was not decided by the court by the date the moratorium was introduced, shall be returned. Consideration of applications already filed with the court will be suspended for the duration of the moratorium, if the court did not introduce the first bankruptcy procedure on the date of the moratorium.
The notification of the creditor of the intention to file a declaration of recognition of the debtor bankrupt becomes null and void from the day the moratorium begins. Thus, after the end of the moratorium, it will be necessary to re-submit such a notice.

On 3 April 2020, the Government introduced bankruptcy moratorium for 6 months for specific list of debtors: •

• companies and individual entrepreneurs who suffered the most from the Covid-19 pandemic. The most affected areas include the transport sector, the sphere of culture and entertainment, tourism and the hotel business, catering, consumer services, sports and additional education.

• system-forming organizations. The final list of such organizations will be approved by the Government in the coming days.

• strategic enterprises and strategic joint-stock companies approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, as well as federal executive bodies ensuring the implementation of a unified public policy in the sectors of the economy in which activity of these organizations approved by order of Government of the Russian Federation.

The Federal Tax Service has published a list of companies and individual entrepreneurs in respect of which a moratorium on bankruptcy is introduced. The full archive can be downloaded here https://data.nalog.ru/files/covid19.zip. In addition, a separate service is launched to search for enterprises by Tax number (INN) or Registration number (OGRN) of a taxpayer: https://service.nalog.ru/covid/index.html#t=1586109349901.

Work of courts in the Russian Federation

Russian courts have stopped considering all except the most urgent cases (until April 10), according to a decision of the Supreme Court. Urgent cases, which will continue to go up before the courts, include pre-trial decisions on whether to remand suspects in custody, as well as decisions relating to the protection of minors.

As the regime of high alert due to the spread of Covid-19 was prolonged in Russia by the Russian President until May 1, 2020, it is most likely that the courts will not start to consider cases until this date.


Please do not hesitate to contact our Covid-19 Help desk at covidhelpdesk@peterkapartners.com.

This document reflects the status as of April 6, 2020.
This document is for informational purposes only and may not be considered a legal opinion or advice.