On Tuesday 20 July, the European Commission published its roadmap for the development of an initiative to upgrade digital company law by the end of 2022.
“The Covid-19 pandemic showed that digital tools are essential to ensure the continuity of business operations and interactions with authorities on company law related issues”, the Commission said.
At present, transparency on company data is still insufficient in the EU, as the disclosure requirements under the Company Law Directive 2017/1132 only cover limited liability companies and some types of company information, the Commission explains. Furthermore, some existing procedures are not adapted to the digital age and still require a physical presence.
In order to improve transparency and access to information, the Commission believes that more comparable data on companies could be made available through the EU Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS). It may also be necessary to introduce new disclosure requirements to ensure transparency on other types of companies.
The Commission is also considering making it possible to file all necessary documents in company law proceedings online and to ensure that physical presence is not required, except in exceptional cases, or to make it possible to incorporate a company other than a limited liability company entirely online.
Stakeholders have until 17 August to comment on the roadmap at https://bit.ly/3x1WicG (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)