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ARTICLE · 28 JUNE 2024

Experiences of a safe harbour process

Cathro & Partners
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Safe harbour protects a director from personal liability for insolvent trading while attempting to restructure.

AustraliaInsolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring
Simon Cathro
Simon Cathro
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Since the safe harbour legislation was introduced in 2017, there have been no court cases dealing with whether a safe harbour process has been properly conducted or not. This can make it difficult for businesses and theirs advisers to know whether they are properly protecting a director from insolvent trading when applying the safe harbour regime.

As such, this article sets out some of the experiences that we believe makes a successful safe harbour process.

What is safe harbour?

In simple terms, safe harbour is the process which allows a director to implement a restructuring plan whilst providing protection against personal liability from insolvent trading if the attempted restructure ultimately fails.

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