Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – The application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE)

The European Cooperative Society Regulation (SCE from its Latin name 'Societas Cooperativa Europaea') was adopted on 22 July 2003, two years after the adoption of the European Company Statute (SE from its Latin name 'Societas Europaea').

The SCE Regulation is complemented by Council Directive 2003/72/EC on the involvement of employees in the SCE ('SCE Directive'). The deadline for adapting national legislation to the Regulation and Directive on the SCE was set for 18 August 2006.

The Statute’s main objective is to facilitate the cross-border and trans-national activities of cooperatives. Like the SE Statute, the European Cooperative Society (SCE) Statute is an optional legal instrument. For their cross-border activities/operations, firms can opt to take the legal form of an SCE or that of a national cooperative.

To gather the necessary data for this report, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR) commissioned an external study, which was delivered in September 2010. In April 2011, DG ENTR launched a public consultation on the results and recommendations of this study. At the same time, in the Single Market Act, the Commission said it intended to examine whether the SCE Regulation needed revising or simplifying to serve the interests of cooperatives better.

The findings of the public consultation were published in November 2011. This report is based on those findings.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)072: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:072:FIN

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