Press Release: Company law: European Company Statute in force, but national delays stop companies using it

The European Company Statute, in theory, became available for use on 8 October 2004, over thirty years after it was first proposed by the Commission. A related Directive concerning worker involvement in European Companies entered into force at the same time. However, only six of the 28 EU and EEA Member States have implemented at national level the regulations necessary to allow European Companies to be set up on their territory. Until the rest do so, many companies operating in more than one Member State will be denied the option of being established as a single company under Community law and thus of being able to operate throughout the EU with one set of rules and a unified management and reporting system.

European Commission: Memo: MEMO/04/235 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/04/235&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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