Study on the Law Applicable to Companies Final Report Carsten Gerner-Beuerle (London School of Economics) Federico M. Mucciarelli (SOAS & University of Modena) Edmund-Philipp Schuster (London School of Economics) Mathias M. Siems (Durham University) June 2016 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers Directorate A – Civil Justice Unit A1 – Civil Justice Policy Contact: Head of Unit E-mail: [email protected] European Commission B-1049 Brussels EUROPEAN COMMISSION Study on the Law Applicable to Companies Final Report Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*) : 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). LEGAL NOTICE This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016 ISBN: 978-92-79-58018-5 doi: 10.2838/527231 © European Union, 2016 Study on the Law Applicable to Companies Study on the Law Applicable to Companies PREFACE The four authors herewith present to the European Commission DG Justice the final report in fulfilment of the contract following the ‘Open call for tender JUST/2014/JCOO/ PR/CIVI/0051: Study on the law applicable to companies with the aim of a possible harmonisation of conflict of laws rules on the matter’. The report has four main parts: (i) a statistical data collection examining how far, in the EU, companies operate in some form in Member States different from the Member State in which they have been incorporated; (ii) an empirical survey dealing with the practical problems created by the legal uncertainty for companies caused by the current situation stemming from the potential for conflicts of laws in a context where the substantive laws of the Member States have not been fully harmonised; (iii) a comparative analysis of the conflicts of laws rules applicable to companies, as well as the related rules of substantive law, in the laws of all Member States; and (iv) a normative assessment suggesting possible solutions to the problem, including a possible harmonisation of conflict of laws rules in the area of company law The abstract and the executive summary that follow the table of contents summarise the main findings of this study. The Annex of the report includes the 28 country reports that form the basis of the comparative part of the study. We thank the country experts and our research assistants for their excellent work, the members of the steering committee and the survey respondents for their participation, and LSE Enterprise and the European Commission for their support. We have sought to bring our work up to date to 1 May 2016, but some subsequent developments have been included where necessary or appropriate. Carsten Gerner-Beuerle Federico Mucciarelli Edmund Schuster Mathias Siems London, June 2016 6 Study on the Law Applicable to Companies CONTRIBUTORS Core Team • Dr Carsten Gerner-Beuerle, Associate Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK • Dr Federico M. Mucciarelli, Reader in Financial Law at SOAS, University of London, UK and an Associate Professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy • Mr Edmund-Philipp Schuster, Assistant Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK • Professor Mathias M. Siems, Professor of Commercial Law, Durham University, UK Steering Committee • Professor Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose, Aarhus University, Denmark • Dr Justin Borg-Barthet, University of Aberdeen, UK • Professor Blanaid Clarke, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland • Professor Pierre-Henri Conac, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg • Professor Christoph van der Elst, Ghent and Tilburg Universities, Belgium and The Netherlands • Professor Guillermo Palao Moreno, University of Valencia, Spain • Professor Monika Pauknerová, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic • Professor Martin Winner, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria LSE Enterprise: • Ms Bregtje Kamphuis, LSE Enterprise Project Manager • Ms Anju Begum, Project Administration Manager Research Assistants: • Mr Petros Vinis • Mr Matt Bogdan 7 Study on the Law Applicable to Companies Country Experts Austria Martin Winner / Edmund Schuster Belgium Christoph van der Elst / Kristof Maresceau Bulgaria Vessela Stancheva Croatia Davor Babić / Tomislav Jakšić Cyprus Christiana Markou / Georgia Zantira Czech Republic Monika Pauknerová / Jan Brodec Denmark Hanne Søndergaard Birkmose Estonia Thomas Hoffmann Finland Matti J. Sillanpää France Michel Menjucq Germany Carsten Gerner-Beuerle / Mathias Siems Greece Thomas Papadopoulos Hungary Péter Metzinger Ireland Blanaid Clarke / David Kenny Italy Stefano Lombardo / Federico Mucciarelli Latvia Esmeralda Balode-Buraka Lithuania Frank Heemann / Karolina Gasparke Luxembourg Pierre-Henri Conac / Gilles Cuniberti Malta Justin Borg-Barthet / Adrian Mallia Netherlands Christoph van der Elst / Kristof Maresceau Jacek Bąk / Arkadiusz Rumiński / Sławomir Morawski / Oktawian Poland Kuc / Klaudyna Lichnowska / Kamil Adamski Portugal António Carneiro da Frada de Sousa Romania Radu Nicolae Catană / Oprea Alina / Sumandea Simionescu Ioan Slovakia Maria Patakyová / Barbora Czókolyová Slovenia Verica Trstenjak / Petra Weingerl Spain Guillermo Palao Moreno Sweden Rolf Skog / Erik Sjöman / Johan Danelius UK Peter Stone 8 Study on the Law Applicable to Companies TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................. 12 Executive Summary .............................................................................................. 13 I. Introduction to Field of Study .......................................................................... 26 1. Overview and conceptual understanding ........................................................ 26 2. Real seat v. Incorporation theory .................................................................. 27 3. Case law of the Court of Justice .................................................................... 28 4. Summary .................................................................................................. 32 II. Statistical Data Collection ............................................................................... 33 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 33 2. Data collection ........................................................................................... 33 2.1 Previous research .................................................................................. 33 2.2 Strategic considerations of this study ....................................................... 38 2.3 Data collection with Orbis ....................................................................... 40 3. Descriptive statistics of private companies in all Member States today .............. 41 3.1 Variations in data availability .................................................................. 41 3.2 Foreign-incorporated companies ............................................................. 42 3.3 Network presentation and clusters ........................................................... 44 4. Time series of new incorporations in the UK and Slovakia, 1990-2015 ............... 47 4.1 Data availability .................................................................................... 47 4.2 General results ..................................................................................... 48 5. Regression analysis: does private international law matter? ............................. 54 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 62 7. Annex: Forms of companies from EU Member States in Orbis ........................... 63 III. Empirical Survey ............................................................................................ 65 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 65 2. Survey design: scope, procedure and respondents .......................................... 65 2.1 Form and scope of survey ...................................................................... 65 2.2 Survey procedure .................................................................................. 66 2.3 Survey respondents ............................................................................... 67 2.4 Evaluation based on all respondents and groups of respondents .................. 68 3. Quantitative and qualitative findings ............................................................. 70 3.1 General perceptions about EU company law and conflict of laws .................. 70 3.2 Specific scenarios for mobility of companies in Member States .................... 73 3.3 Further questions about situation in Member States .................................. 86 3.4 Other comments provided ...................................................................... 90 4. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 90 5. Annex to Survey ........................................................................................