Proposal to Facilitate the Management of Cross-Border Company Groups in Europe

Abstract

The reports of various expert groups as well as the Commission’s Action Plan 2012, have acknowledged the need to facilitate the establishment, restructuring and consolidated governance of transnational corporate groups in the Common Market. In this line of thought, the Forum Europaeum on Company Groups has elaborated basic principles for a European approach regarding transnational groups. It takes into account the variety of subsidiaries regarding their size and function and thereby develops a twofold approach: A simple and clear-cut framework for smaller subsidiaries with a purely auxiliary function (“Service Companies”), and a more elaborate system balancing the various stakeholder interests for larger and more independent subsidiaries (“Ordinary Companies”). It is suggested that both systems be introduced by means of an EU directive.

Keywords: Company law, European Company Law, Groups of companies, Group Interest

JEL Classification: K22