The insistent overlap of modifications to the text of R.D. No 267/1942 has already fail to satisfy the clear need for a systematic reform of the bankruptcy law, which is in force for over seventy years.

Therefore, a few months after the entry into force of D.L. No 83/2015, the discipline is going to change again. Several innovations emerge from the proposal presentation: from the elimination of the traditional term “bankruptcy” and all its derivatives – along the lines of France, Spain and Germany –, to the introduction of alert procedures for the early surfacing of the crisis and the proposal to establish specialized judges, until the abolition of the composition with creditors that provide the assignment of the assets.

A key element which could lead not only to the streamlining of crisis management among groups of companies, but also to a greater efficiency in the procedures, is the proposal for a regulation of group of companies’ composition with creditors.

There is a clear will to close – in a more or less organic way – a gap that has become more and more apparent in recent years. Besides the introduction of a definition of group of companies, which is shaped on the concept of management and coordination pursuant to Article 2497 Civil Code, the submitted proposal provides the possibility, for companies of the same group, to present a single appeal for admission to a composition with creditors. The whole procedure can be managed in a unitary way with a single delegated judge and a single judicial commissioner.

So, in the future, if comply with some declarative obligations – including the consolidated financial statements deposit – the groups of companies that are facing a crisis may not need to have to deal with several parallel procedures. However, the proposal is limited to “procedural” aspects: the principle of patrimonial autonomy still remains in force.