The nervous strain of waiting for the result of the EEC referendum in the United Kingdom, coupled with the need to convalesce during the Continental holiday month of August, ensured that the institutions of the European Communities were not over-active in the field of commercial law during the period covered by this note. Work on the Fourth Directive concerning company accounts continues within the study groups of the Council of Ministers and despite a pious wish expressed by the Council of Ministers of Justice that work should be accelerated, no practical results seem imminent.

The most exciting development is the transmission by the Commission to the Council of Ministers of the amended Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Statute for European Companies. By means of the statute, the aim is to create a common legal framework within which a company will be able to operate throughout the Community, while at the same time protecting the legitimate interests of those involved in the running of the enterprise. The intention is that the statute for European companies will be used by businesses incorporated in one or more Member States of the European Community to facilitate the following:

In the first two cases, only companies limited by shares can incorporate the companies described. In the third case, under pressure from industry and the European Parliament, the Commission now proposes that any person or body having legal personality and whose object is to carry on economic activities may form a joint subsidiary. Further, the minimum capital required under the Statute has been reduced from 500,000 to 250,000 units of account in cases (i) and (ii) and from 250,000 to 100,000 units of account in case (iii) By art. 17, the European Court of Justice ensures the observance of the statutory requirements when a European company is set up, for which the documents of incorporation have to be filed in the European Commercial Register.

Since 1970, when West Germany was the only state of the European Community granting worker participation, Holland, Denmark and Luxembourg have given workers certain powers of management and supervision of company affairs. The statute continues this process by providing for the establishment of supervisory boards on which both sides of industry and independent parties representing “general interests” will each exercise a one-third voting share. By this means it is hoped to avoid deadlocks which might arise from a 50-50 split between workers and management, the format preferred by the British TUC and the German unions.