One Legislative Instrument Down, Three To Go

摘要

The part of the Small Business Act (SBA) that has won universal applause among entrepreneurs is the set of new legislative initiatives, guided, according to the European Commission, by the 'think small first' principle. The set is made up of four main parts. The first, a Regulation on the Statute for a European Private Company (2008/396) is designed to enable entrepreneurs to launch and run a single type of company - called SPE, from the French 'Societe privee euro-peenne' - under the same rules and conditions in all EU member states. The regulation was adopted on the same date as the SBA itself, 25 June. Thanks to this regulation, entrepreneurs will no longer have to set up subsidiaries in each member state that they want to do business in - for example, a limited company in the UK, a GmbH in Germany or SARL in France. "This should allow small local businesses to grow and extend to foreign markets," said EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy. He also pointed out that an SPE does not need to have multiple shareholders from different member states and is free to establish its headquarters in a country different from its place of registration. According to McCreevy, this will result in huge savings, particularly in legal costs incurred when launching a business abroad. Furthermore, there will be only a symbolic minimum capital investment of €1 required. The only question that remains to be answered is whether entrepreneurs will actually take up the new opportunity. The equivalent European Company Statute, established in October 2001 and requiring a minimum capital of €120,000, has only been used by a few firms.