CNC e PNRR

The new tools to support the Negotiated Settlement of Business Crisis (CNC)

by Federico Valenza

From the outset we followed the introduction of the Negotiated Composition of the Business Crisis (CNC), the voluntary procedure that allows entrepreneurs to prevent the failure of their companies. We have already talked about it on our blog, to get an idea of the advantages and more technical information, watch the video.

The tool has been operational since 15 November 2021, but after more than a year there is little use of the CNC: there are few entrepreneurs who have voluntarily exploited it to avoid bankruptcy and moreover with few positive outcomes. Let's see some numbers.

One year after entry into force, a total of 475 applications have been filed throughout Italy, of which 21% in Lombardy alone.

But what are the difficulties in implementing CNC?

First of all, it is good to underline the obstacles to diffusion which are, nominally:

• impossibility of reaching settlement agreements with qualified public creditors (Revenue Agency, INPS, Inail)
• long deadlines to access the procedure due to difficulties in submitting the necessary documentation.

News to the PNRR introduced by the Council of Ministers

The Negotiated Crisis Settlement is a tool with enormous potential for our economy – if you want to learn more about it, you can read the insights written on our blog, starting from this. And it is precisely for these advantages that the Government has chosen to give a further boost to the use of this tool, trying to push entrepreneurs to resort to CNC before the extreme consequences are reached.

On 16 February 2023, the Council of Ministers therefore approved the draft decree on the PNRR, which in art. 39 introduces some measures to support the success of CNC, facilitating their diffusion and consequently their concrete application by companies with a more significant debt exposure.

In particular, there are three measures planned to encourage the use of CNC:

1. introduction of the settlement agreement: the entrepreneur, during the negotiations initiated by the independent expert, has the right to propose settlement agreements with the public creditors which provide for the payment of the debt, partially or deferred, to an extent no less than what could be obtained from the judicial liquidation.
2. admission of the self-declaration: in order to counteract the frequent difficulties and slowdowns in accessing the procedure, the decree allows a self-declaration with which the entrepreneur, before submitting the request for appointment of the expert, certifies that he has requested all the necessary certifications.
3. reward measures: it is expected that, for the debtor who has acted in a timely and correct manner, theThe Revenue Agency may grant installment plans of up to 120 installments (previously 72), in cases of proven and serious difficulty of the company represented at the request of the company and signed by the expert.

The accountants' comment

The National Council of Chartered Accountants and of the Accounting Experts, with the press release of Friday 17 February 2023 expressed itself more than in favor of the approval of the draft decree.

President Elbano de Nuccio in fact commented enthusiastically by stating "these are reasonable provisions that intend toeffectively support Italian companiesin overcoming crisis situations and aimed at protecting business continuity".

All that remains is to wait and work so that CNC rightfully becomes one of the most used tools, avoiding eroding our economic fabric, already tested by the numerous crises that have occurred in recent years.