Article 9U.K.Adoption of restructuring plans
1.Member States shall ensure that, irrespective of who applies for a preventive restructuring procedure in accordance with Article 4, debtors have the right to submit restructuring plans for adoption by the affected parties.
Member States may also provide that creditors and practitioners in the field of restructuring have the right to submit restructuring plans, and provide for conditions under which they may do so.
2.Member States shall ensure that affected parties have a right to vote on the adoption of a restructuring plan.
Parties that are not affected by a restructuring plan shall not have voting rights in the adoption of that plan.
3.Notwithstanding paragraph 2, Member States may exclude from the right to vote the following:
(a)equity holders;
(b)creditors whose claims rank below the claims of ordinary unsecured creditors in the normal ranking of liquidation priorities; or
(c)any related party of the debtor or the debtor's business, with a conflict of interest under national law.
4.Member States shall ensure that affected parties are treated in separate classes which reflect sufficient commonality of interest based on verifiable criteria, in accordance with national law. As a minimum, creditors of secured and unsecured claims shall be treated in separate classes for the purposes of adopting a restructuring plan.
Member States may also provide that workers' claims are treated in a separate class of their own.
Member States may provide that debtors that are SMEs can opt not to treat affected parties in separate classes.
Member States shall put in place appropriate measures to ensure that class formation is done with a particular view to protecting vulnerable creditors such as small suppliers.
5.Voting rights and the formation of classes shall be examined by a judicial or administrative authority when a request for confirmation of the restructuring plan is submitted.
Member States may require a judicial or administrative authority to examine and confirm the voting rights and formation of classes at an earlier stage than that referred to in the first subparagraph.
6.A restructuring plan shall be adopted by affected parties, provided that a majority in the amount of their claims or interests is obtained in each class. Member States may, in addition, require that a majority in the number of affected parties is obtained in each class.
Member States shall lay down the majorities required for the adoption of a restructuring plan. Those majorities shall not be higher than 75 % of the amount of claims or interests in each class or, where applicable, of the number of affected parties in each class.
7.Notwithstanding paragraphs 2 to 6, Member States may provide that a formal vote on the adoption of a restructuring plan can be replaced by an agreement with the requisite majority.