On 1 April 2010, a Federal Law was adopted to mitigate the consequences of the spread of coronavirus. The law is comprehensive and proposes amendments, inter alia, in the real estate lease, state procurements and licensing sectors. One amendment concerns bankruptcy legislation.

In accordance with the Federal Law, the Russian Government is entitled to impose a moratorium on the commencement of bankruptcy cases in respect of the specific category of organisations and individual entrepreneurs. The moratorium may be imposed not only in the event of a natural or man-made emergency, but also in the event of a material change in the rouble exchange rate, and also in other circumstances. At present, an exhaustive list of such circumstances has not been provided. The Government availed itself of the indicated authority and imposed a corresponding moratorium on 3 April 2020.

We recommend briefly acquainting the management of companies and employees of legal departments.