The EU legal acts and the underlying principles

The underlying principles of the new EU legislation in the field of cross-border insolvency are unity and
universality.42 The aim has been to implement these general principles in relation to EU member states,
and each legal act that has been adopted reflects this intention. These are a regulation on insolvency
proceedings and two directives providing specific rules concerning the winding-up and reorganisation of
insurance undertakings and of credit institutions, respectively:

1. Council Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 on insolvency proceedings43 (the Insolvency
Regulation);

2. Directive 2001/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the
reorganisation and winding-up of insurance undertakings44 (the Winding-up Directive for insurance
undertakings);

3. Directive 2001/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 April 2001 on the
reorganisation and winding-up of credit institutions45 (the Winding-up Directive for credit institutions).

The introduction of the principles of unity and universality has resulted in a legal framework for cross-
border insolvency cases within the European Union under which a single set of insolvency rules can
apply to the enforcement of all creditors’ claims, and decisions of the competent authority have
universal application. The Insolvency Regulation and the two Directives do not seek to harmonise
national legislation concerning reorganisation measures and winding-up proceedings, rather they ensure
mutual recognition and coordination of these procedures by member states. The principles of home
country control, minimum harmonisation and mutual recognition - forming the core of the market
integration principles for financial markets - have also been transposed in the field of insolvency
procedures and constitute the basis of the Winding-up Directive for insurance undertakings and the
Windingup Directive for credit institutions. In particular, the home country and mutual recognition
principles - being introduced by the First and Second Banking Co-ordination Directives,46 respectively -
are extended to the insolvency of credit institutions