The exoneration of public credit in transitional law after Law 16/2022, of September 5, reforming the Consolidated Text of the Bankruptcy Law

bankruptcy law

Abstract

The Spanish Courts have raised various prejudicial questions on the interpretation of Directive 2019/1023. The doubts about the adaptation of Spanish legislation to the inspiring principles of said Directive refer to both the legal regime of the exoneration of unsatisfied liabilities prior to the transposition rule (Law 16/2022), and the legal regime derived from the transposition and today in force (Consolidated Text of the Bankruptcy Law in the version given by Law 16/2022). The underlying question that arises is whether the non-payment of certain public law debts can prevent access to exoneration (interpretation of article 23.2 of the directive) and whether public law debts are debts excepted from exoneration due to the existence of a public interest in their fullfilment (interpretation of article 23.4 of the directive). In this article we analyze the Alicante AAP, section 8, of October 11, 2022, processed before the CJEU as Case C-687/222; the AAP of Alicante, section 8, of January 31, 2023, processed as case C – 111/23 before the CJEU; the Order of the Commercial Court No. 1 of Alicante, dated April 25, 2023 and the Order of the Commercial Court No. 10 of Barcelona, ​​dated May 2, 2023.