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THE EUROPEAN COMPANY

The “European public limited-liability company” also known as the “European company” is a new form in which it will soon be possible to set up legal persons within the territory of the European Union. The short title for the European company is “SE” (an abbreviation made from the Latin phrase “Societas Europaea”, i.e. the “European society”).

The European company shall be governed, above all, by the specific Community legislation adopted in 2001 (it had been proposed for adoption more than thirty years ago and was remaining under discussion since then). This legislation consists of two documents: the “Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (SE)” and the “Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 supplementing the Statute for a European company with regard to the involvement of employees”.

A European company (SE) can be formed either by means of a merger of two or more public limited-liability companies from different Member States or by transformation of an existing public-limited company into an SE. The formation of a holding or a subsidiary SE can also be a case.

The subscribed capital of any SE should not be less than 120 000 Euros.

The structure of the SE comprises a general meeting of shareholders and either a supervisory organ and a management organ (“two-tier system”) or a single administrative body (“one-tier system”) - depending on the form adopted in the statutes.

Tchetverikov A.O.