The COMI (Center Of Main Interest) in insolvency law in Luxembourg

World Systems (Europe) Limited was a company having its registered office in the United Kingdom. It had entered into insolvency proceedings in United Kingdom but also had a branch office registered in Luxembourg [Jugement commercial II No. 657 / 04 02 / 07 / 2004 No. 88225]. The employees as creditors of the Luxembourg branch office addressed their claims to the Luxembourg Court based on Art. 3 para 2 of the EIR (a Member State in which the company not has its COMI may open secondary proceedings if it has an establishment there). The Luxembourg Court declared Luxembourg to be the competent jurisdiction for dealing with the Luxembourg claims. With regard to the notion of a branch office (succursale) the Court referred to the definitions given by the European Court of Justice.

A company having its registered office in Gibraltar entered into insolvency proceedings in Gibraltar, again having a branch office registered in Luxembourg. The creditor addressed its claim to the Luxembourg Court [Tribunal d’Arrondissement 08 / 06 / 2009 No. 120 898]. The Luxembourg Court decided that the Gibraltar courts were competent with regard to the insolvency proceedings, not Luxembourg, based on Art. 3 para 1 of the EIR (main proceedings to be opened where the company has its COMI). The conditions of Art. 3 para 2 EIR were not fulfilled since there was no activity in another EU Member State.

A French Court pronounced the forced liquidation of a company registered in Luxembourg. The opening of the liquidation procedures had been registered in Luxembourg Cour d’Appel 02 / 12 / 2009 No. 34882.). The French Court further decided that the company should be deregistered at the Luxembourg registry, which the Luxembourg registrar did. The company disapproved of the deregistration and claimed that the French Court was not competent. The Luxembourg Court decided that the French Court had competence, based on Art. 3 para 1 and 2 of the EIR, because of the COMI being in France.