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discussion was being deferred pending expected legislation in the
near future in Britain.
11.2
Since then there have been enacted in Britain the Insolvency
Act 1985 and the Insolvency Act 1986. The latter has consolidated the
law on the subject but has not repealed all of the 1985 hct.
11.3
The Standing Committee has considered the new legislation
on Wrongful Trading and Administration Orders on a number of occasions
(The proposals for a Ten Per Cent Fund in The Cork Report have not
been implemented and since, as was indicated in the Standing Committee's
Report for 1984, the Committee's initial reaction to the proposals was
also unfavourable, the subject has not been pursued further).
11.4
With regard to Wrongful Trading, the Standing Committee were
concerned to note that the relevant new provisions in Section 15 of the
1985 Act (now Section 214 of the 1986 Act) were regarded with considerable
caution, not to say scepticism, by some experts in Britain. For example,
in an article in the November/December 1985 issue of "Insolvency Law &
Practice", Mr. Peter Farmery, Head of Company Law, Company and
Environmental Affair at the Confederation of British Industry said:
"The criminal offence of fraudulent trading will no
doubt be familiar to you; wrongful trading is hased
on similar principles but by virtue of being a civil
offence will require a less onerous burden of proof,
ergo it is hoped that more culprits will be caught by
its provisions. Wrongful trading has been described
variously as being too indiscriminate, not tough
enough, confusing and unworkable. Each of these comments
is true. The idea of introducing such a penalty evolved
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