Brussels, 27/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 27 November, the European Commission sent Germany a reasoned opinion asking it to amend the law known as the “Volkswagen law”. This special regime, set up in 1960 when the company was being privatised, was amended by the Bundestag on 13 November (see EUROPE 9783). The Commission says, however, that the new provisions still do not comply with the Court of Justice ruling of 23 October 2007 (see EUROPE 9529). More specifically, the new version of the law does not remove the provision that a shareholder with at least 20% of the capital can block certain “important” decisions. The usual threshold in Germany for such powers is 25% of the capital. Thus, the Land of Lower Saxony, with it 20.1% of shares can block changes - such as a possible downsizing - proposed by the Porsche group which holds most of the VW capital. The Commission, upheld by the Court, says that this provision is an infringement of the free movement of capital. The Court found against two further provisions of the VW law and these have been abolished by the Bundestag revision: automatic representation of public authorities on the board and a 20% cap on voting rights, even though the shareholder may hold more than 20% of the capital. If no satisfactory response is received from Germany within two months of receipt of the reasoned opinion, the Commission may decide to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. (C.D./transl.rt)