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Act, which does not apply to debt incurred after it becomes effective, 98 is noteworthy because it includes provisions which aim to foster negotiated settlements. 99 It carefully deﬁnes the sovereign debt which beneﬁts from the privileged treatment - excluding for example debt which has been incurred to pay for goods and services. 100 The Act was adopted after a public consultation. 101 It was heavily debated in Parliament, with strong lobbying notably from the Jubilee Campaign 102 and from London’s ﬁnancial sector. During discussions in Parliament, a sunset clause was added to the bill, to the effect that the bill would only remain in force for a year, unless renewed. This was apparently part of a compromise between parties involved. 103

C. THE BELGIAN STRIKE AGAINST VULTURE FUNDS
In Belgium, Parliament became concerned about the activity of ’vulture funds’ in 2007. During that year, the Senate adopted a non binding resolution calling for limitation to be brought to the activities of ’vulture funds’. 104 The main concern behind the resolution was the fact that holdout creditors could circumvent multilateral efforts geared towards reduction or cancellation of debts of very poor countries. 105 More speciﬁcally, the senators were concerned that money earmarked by the government for development aid projects, mainly in the DRCongo, had been seized by creditors, thereby putting these projects on hold. 106 The resolution
98. See section 1(1)(3) – deﬁnition of a ’qualifying debt’. See also the caveat in section 1(4). 99. A sovereign debt creditor which has reached an agreement with a debtor to reduce the latter’s debt, will undergo a more limited reduction of his interest. The reduction will be calculated not on the amount of the debt outstanding, as reduced by the agreement between parties, but on the facial value of the debt (section (3), subsections (3) and (4)). 100. Section 2 (3) (a) provides that “Debt” does not include “a liability to pay for goods or services that arose on the delivery of the goods or the provision of services”. 101. See HM Treasury, Ensuring effective debt relief for poor countries: a consultation on legislation, July 2009 (available at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_debt_relief.htm/). 102. See http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=2893/ 103. The Act is due to expire on 8 June 2011. It is unclear whether it will be renewed or replaced by more permanent legislation. The Coalition Agreement signed in May 2010 by the new English government led by Mr David Cameron indicated that “We will review what action can be taken against ‘vulture funds’”. (at p. 22) 104. Proposal “visant à limiter l’impact des ’fonds vautours” sur l’allégement de la dette des pays du tiers monde”, Senate, Nr. 4-244, introduced on 5 October 2007 by Mr. Paul Wille. Another proposal with the same title was introduced on 18 April 2007 (Senate, Nr. 3-2414). 105. The Resolution noted that: “Ce qui gêne principalement les auteurs de la présente proposition dans ce jugement, c’est qu’il mette en évidence le fait que certains créanciers privés véreux contournent les conventions internationales conclues en matière d’allégement de la dette alors que les gouvernements occidentaux oeuvrent enﬁn à l’allégement et à la remise des dettes”. 106. During the discussions in the Senate Commission, reference was made to attachment by creditors of a loan granted by Belgium to Congo Brazzaville, which could not go through due to the attachment.

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_debt_relief.htm/ http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=2893/

Droit des affaires - Insolvabilité des États et dettes souveraines -1

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