미국 연방파산법상 2019년소액영업자회생법(the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019)의 중요내용 분석및 시사점

The Federal Rules of Bankruptcy of the United States regulates the rehabilitationprocedures for organizations and individuals in Chapter 11, which is recognized as avery effective procedure for rehabilitation of large corporations. However, it has beencriticized f or b eing t oo c omplex a nd r equiring a l ot o f time f or t he r ehabilitationprocess, s o that C hapter 1 1 is not s uitab le f or t he s mall b usiness deb tors w ho h averelatively simple debt structure. In the case of small business debtors, provisions forthe rehabilitation of small business debtors are set in the procedure in Chapter 11 topromote their rehabilitation at a quick and low cost. In addition, Chapter 13stipulates rehabilitation procedures for individuals whose debts are less than a certainamount, and Part 12 stipulates rehabilitation procedures for farmers and fishermenwhose debts are less than a certain amount. Small business debtors have a relatively simple debt structure, and in most cases,the separation of ownership and management is not clear even for organizations suchas companies. In addition, in many cases, the influence of the secured creditor in theresolution process for the rehabilitation plan is large, which adversely affects therehabilitation of the debtor in many cases. The Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 was newly enacted in the U.S. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy and was stipulated in Sub-chapter V of Chapter 11,which came into force on February 19, 2020. The US Small Business Rehabilitation Act revised the rules of the rehabilitationprocedure in Chapter 11 to make the rehabilitation procedure inexpensive and quick. In addition, the requirement that at least one group of creditors should approve therehabilitation plan for compulsory court confirmation was deleted, and the absolutepriority rule in the case of compulsory confirmation was abolished to minimize theinfluence of the secured creditor and to maintain their shares for the debtor’s largeshareholders after the rehabilitation procedure. The Small Business Rehabilitation Actaccepts the procedures of Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 rather than the procedure ofChapter 11 in the rehabilitation plan, and is evaluated as a more favorable procedurefor the debtor.