Wrongful trading Section 13: Suspension of liability for wrongful trading – Northern Ireland
This section temporarily suspends liability under wrongful trading provisions in the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.
	Subsection (1) sets out that the court will not hold a director responsible for any worsening of the financial position of the company or its creditors during the relevant period, which is defined later. There is no requirement to show that the company’s worsening financial position was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
	Subsection (2) defines the relevant period as beginning on 1 March 2020 and ending on 30 September 2020.
	The end date may be amended by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland under section 42.
	Subsections (3) to (6) and (8) set out the companies, mainly those involved in financial services, whose directors do not get the benefit of the section.
	Subsection (7) confirms that the section must be treated as if contained in Part 5 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989. This means that the suspension will apply wherever wrongful trading provisions are applied by the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 or other legislation, for example, in the case of limited liability partnerships.