Die Sitzverlegung der Europäischen Aktiengesellschaft

With the introduction of the new legal form of the European Company Statute (»Societas Europaea«) at the end of 2004, European Community lawmakers have created an instrument which enables large European firms to choose a corporate structure which is based on the same standards in all of the European Community. One special advantage of this new legal form is the simplification of cross-border restructuring, in particular the transfer of the corporation's registered office to another country. However, the statutory provisions for this transfer are relatively restrictive and do take the creditors' and shareholders' request for protection into consideration. Wolf-Georg Ringe studies the extent to which these newly-created regulations for the transfer of a European Company's seat comply with the requirements of an authentic legal form of European Community law, and in particular whether or not they are compatible with the basic freedoms stipulated in the EC Treaty.