This fully updated new edition provides the best-known practical overview of the law regarding companies, business activities, and capital markets in Europe, at both the European Union (EU) and Member State levels. It incorporates analysis of recent developments including the impact of global initiatives in such aspects of the corporate environment as regulation of financial institutions and non-financial reporting obligations with a view to sustainability and other social responsibility concerns. The authors, all leading experts in European corporate law, describe current and emerging trends in such areas of corporate law practice as the following: - rules on cross-border mergers; - employee involvement in business activities; - the initiatives by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU to curb tax avoidance; - Member States’ implementation of EU legislation; - a company’s freedom to incorporate in a jurisdiction not its own; - competition among the legal forms of different Member States; and - safeguarding of employee involvement in cross-border transactions. With respect to national law, the laws of Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom are taken into account; Italy is now included in this new edition. As in earlier editions, the authors demonstrate that analysis and comparison of national corporate laws yield highly valuable general principles and observations, not least because business organizations, wherever located, tend to show a fundamentally similar set of legal characteristics. The Third Edition will continue to be of great value to practitioners and academics who wish to acquire a better understanding of European corporate law, in its supranational dimension as well as in the similarities and differences among the various national legal systems.

This successful textbook remains the only offering for students of European company law, and has been fully updated.

The book provides students of European company law courses, scholars and practitioners with an overview. Although company law remains mainly regulated at the level of national laws, it has become important to obtain a systematic view of the main directives in the field of company law, the EU Court of Justice’s jurisprudence, the European Model Company Act and the state of implementation of these directives in the member states of the Union. The book therefore contains, in addition to the illustration of the law laid down by EU legislative bodies and the related soft laws, detailed references to the most important domestic legislations and case laws, in order to make them known and usable as much as possible. Moreover, the book allows identifying the most relevant current legislative trends and the main historical reasons for divergences.

This fully updated new edition provides an overview of the law regarding companies, business organizations, and capital markets in Europe, at both the European Union (EU) and Member State levels. It introduces the reader to the EU harmonization programme and describes how this has influenced corporate law in the various EU Member States. The authors describe common denominators as well as differences in the approach of national corporate laws. The authors highlight current and emerging trends in these areas of corporate law, including: the freedom of establishment of companies within the EU; the European harmonization process and Member States’ implementation of EU legislation; employee involvement in business organizations; the division of power between the different corporate bodies; the functioning and regulation of company groups; and cross-border business combinations, takeovers and restructuring tools. The laws of France, Germany and the Netherlands in particular are discussed and contrasted. This discussion also includes the United Kingdom, although no longer an EU Member State. As in earlier editions, the authors demonstrate that analysis and comparison of national corporate laws yield highly valuable general principles and observations, not least because business organizations, wherever located, tend to show a fundamentally similar set of legal characteristics. The Fourth Edition will continue to be of great value to practitioners and academics who wish to acquire a better understanding of European corporate law, in its supranational dimension as well as in the similarities and differences among the various national legal systems. It can also be used as a handbook for comparative corporate law courses.

No one doubts any longer that sustainable development is a normative imperative. Yet there is unmistakably a great reluctance to acknowledge any legal basis upon which companies are obliged to forgo 'shareholder value' when such a policy clearly dilutes responsibility for company action in the face of continuing environmental degradation. Here is a book that boldly says: 'Shareholder primacy' is wrong. Such a narrow, short-term focus, the author shows, works against the achievement of the overarching societal goals of European law itself. The core role of EU company and securities law is to promote economic development, notably through the facilitation of market integration, while its contributory role is to further sustainable development through facilitation of the integration of economic and social development and environmental protection. There is a clear legal basis in European law to overturn the poorly substantiated theory of a 'market for corporate control' as a theoretical and ideological basis when enacting company law. With rigorous and persuasive research and analysis, this book demonstrates that: European companies should have legal obligations beyond the maximization of profit for shareholders; human and environmental interests may and should be engaged with in the realm of company law; and company law has a crucial role in furthering sustainable development. As a test case, the author offers an in-depth analysis of the Takeover Directive, showing that it neither promotes economic development nor furthers the integration of the economic, social and environmental interests that the principle of sustainable development requires. This book goes to the very core of the ongoing debate on the function and future of European company law. Surprisingly, it does not make an argument in favour of changing EU law, but shows that we can take a great leap forward from where we are. For this powerful insight - and the innumerable recognitions that support it - this book is a timely and exciting new resource for lawyers and academics in 'both camps' those on the activist side of the issue, and those with company or official policymaking responsibilities.

The harmonization of company law has always been on the agenda of the European Union. Besidesthe protection of third parties affected by business transactions, the founders had two other objectives: first, promoting freedom of establishment, and second, preventing the abuse of such freedom. The European Commission issued its Company Law Action Plan in 2003. In this volume researchers of the Jan Ronse Institute for Company Law of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven present five chapters on the main priorities of the Action Plan: capital and creditor protection,corporate governance, one share one vote, financial reporting, and corporate mobility. The book also includes responses and ensuing discussions by reputed European company law experts.

With the European Union striving to become the world's most competitive economy, the developments in the two closely interconnected areas of European corporate law and European company tax law are of utmost importance. This book focuses on the crucial issues raised by these developments, on their far-reaching implications and on the key challenges to the future legislative choices. The book illustrates the key developments in EU corporate law and EU company tax law, the EU planned initiatives in these areas, and - at a time when member states increasingly tend to use company law and company tax provisions to attract businesses and investments - it suggests how future developments can contribute to the undistorted functioning of the internal market and to the strategic 'Lisbon-objective'. The explanation of these legislative and case-law developments is of use to students and indicates new opportunities for business expansion strategies throughout the European Community. The book concludes that new optional, but attractive, EU company law vehicles and company tax regimes would be, in these two areas, the only legal and effective means towards an undistorted functioning of the internal market and towards the Lisbon-objective. This ultimately gives rise to a far-reaching challenge for all debates on the future patterns of European integration. Luca Cerioni introduces new themes for academic research and discussion subjects for decision-makers and at the same time, uniquely, makes these accessible to a much wider international public of students, businesses and practitioners.