Forum shopping and COMI shifting

Rationale

In any cross-border case, practitioners will assess which jurisdictions are available for the proceedings, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each. The use of the concept of centre of main interests (COMI) in the Regulation (EU) 2015/848 (OJ L141 5.6.2015 p 19), Recast Regulation on Insolvency [EU Recast Regulation on Insolvency] and the UNCITRAL Model Law on cross border insolvency means that if time permits, practitioners may consider forum shopping to move the COMI of a company (regardless of where it is incorporated in the world) to a jurisdiction with a more favourable restructuring or insolvency regime.

Favoured jurisdictions

Historically, parties have tended to favour the following jurisdictions for conducting restructurings and insolvencies:

•
the US
•
the UK

It's not surprising to see that the US and the UK rank highly and these have been two of the most popular jurisdictions to shift COMI to. It seems that the

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