Abstract
The Regulation and the Directive on the Statute for a European company introduce a new corporate structure under French law justifying the inclusion of new chapters in both the Commercial Code and Labour Code of France. In order to assess the merits of this new alternative, the benefits offered by the SE structure and regime need to be examined in comparison with existing corporate structures under French law, in particular the SA, which is the structure that the SE most resembles. This article reviews the main features of the SE as a legal entity under French law facilitating the formation of European groups. It also looks at reasons for choosing the French SE regime from the point of view of corporate and employment law. The SE is clearly most valuable in cases where the scope of business is European, in which context it can facilitate transnational mergers and joint operations, make the transfer of registered offices possible and serve as a model for streamlining the corporate governance of European groups. If, on the whole, the French legislator has proved conservative with regard to the SE, even in implementing the Directive on labour side, he has nevertheless granted the ‘French’ SE plenty of freedom in the statutes regarding the definition of relationships among shareholders.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Loi No 2005-842 du 26 juillet 2005 pour la confiance et la modernisation de l’économie.
Arts. 9(1), 10 and 15 of the Regulation; Art. L. 229-1 of the Commercial Code; Art. 203-3 of Decree of 23 March 1967.
CJCE, 13 December 2005, aff. C-411/03 SEVIC Systems AG, Revue critique de droit international privé (2006), p. 662, note by Heymann; Recueil Dalloz (2006), p. 451, note by Luby; JCP (2006), II, 10077, note by Dammann.
Art. 20.
Art. 24.
Art. 29.
Art. L. 511-13, subpara. 1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code.
Art. L. 322-29 of the French Insurance Code.
Art. L. 532-9, subpara. 2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code.
Art. 13.
Art. 12(2).
Art. 2(4).
Art. 8.
Art. 45.
Art. 42.
Art. 46.
Art. 11(1).
Art. 11(2).
Art. 48(1).
Art. L. 229-7, subpara. 4 of the French Commercial Code.
Art. 58.
Art. 59.
Art. L. 229-12 of the French Commercial Code.
Art. L. 229-13, subpara. 1 of the French Commercial Code.
Art. L. 229-13, subpara. 2 of the French Commercial Code.
Art. L. 229-15 of the French Commercial Code.
Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees.
Versailles Court of Appeal, 7 April 1997.
Art. L. 432-6 of the French Labour Code.
Art. L. 432-6-1 of the French Labour Code.
Arts. L. 225-23 and 225-27 of the French Commercial Code.
Art. L. 439-26, subpara. 2 of the French Labour Code.
Arts. L. 439-30 and R. 439-8 of the French Labour Code.
Art. R. 439-5 of the French Labour Code.
Art. L. 439-27 of the French Labour Code.
Arts. L. 439-29 and R. 439-6 of the French Labour Code.
Arts. L. 439-27, L. 439-29 and R. 439-6 of the French Labour Code.
Art. 3(3), second para.
Art. R. 439-12 of the French Labour Code.
Arts. L. 439-33 and R. 439-13 of the French Labour Code.
Art. R. 439-18 of the French Labour Code.
Art. L. 439-43, subpara. 1 of the French Labour Code.
Art. L. 439-43, subpara. 2 of the French Labour Code.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Menjucq, M., Fages, F. & Vuidard, L. The European Company under French Law: Main Features. Eur Bus Org Law Rev 9, 137–154 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752908001377
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752908001377