Brussels, 23/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Company Statute (ECA) was adopted in 2001, following more than 30 years of negotiations. It has been used since 8 October 2004 and is currently known under its Latin name, “Societas Europaea” (or SE), and has been very successful in certain member states, such as the Czech Republic and Germany, but less so in other member states. In an effort to clarify the last point, the European Commission decided on Tuesday 23 March to launch a public consultation on how the SE works. The objective is to determine whether it is necessary to introduce amendments to the statute so that it is more widely used throughout the whole of the European Union.
In compliance with the regulation on the SE, the Commission is obliged to present a report five years after the entry into force of the SE, on its practical application and, if needs be, propose the necessary modifications. In an effort to provide this report with solid factual foundations, the Commission launched an external study in December 2008 on the subject, on which the different stakeholders are now invited to present their points of view. The Commission will take into account the different responses in its future report on the SE, which will be completed with a high-level conference on 26 May this year. The consultation launched on Tuesday aims to compare the external study conclusions with the situation on the ground and provide the Commission with appropriate information for examining the SE statute. Questions focus on the positive and negative incentives for creating an SE, in addition to the main trends manifesting themselves with regard to how the SE is distributed among the different EU member states and the European Economic Area (EAA). The practical problems encountered when setting up or managing an SE, as well the possible improvements that could be introduced to the current legislative framework, will also be examined.
In total, 431 SEs were registered on 10 September 2009. There was an exponential growth in the number of SEs created between 2004 and 2008. This number decreased in 2009. There are SEs in 20 of the 30 EAA member states, the vast majority of them registered in the Czech Republic (170 SEs) and Germany (106). SEs mainly operate in the services sector (finance and insurance: 31%; other services: 27%). Around 10% of them have transferred their company HQ to another member state - the most popular destinations are the United Kingdom and Cyprus. The following companies are among known examples of successful SEs: Allianz, BASF, Porsche, Fresenius and MAN in Germany, SCOR in France, Elcoteq in Luxembourg and Strabag in Austria. Nonetheless, the Commission recognises that the SE statute has not been taken up everywhere, which is why the commissioner for the internal market, Michel Barnier, explained: “I want to find out why and determine whether we need to make improvements to the existing rules”. The questionnaire, in addition to more comprehensive information on the subject of the SE, is available at the following address: http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market/company/se/index_fr.htm. (O.L./transl.fl)