“Pseudo — Foreign Companies” in Germany — The Centros, Überseering and Inspire Art Decisions of the European Court of Justice

Barriers to doing business across borders erode in the European Union. The decisions of the European Court of Justice (thereafter “ECJ”) illustrate the tenuous place which the idea of regulatory competition currently occupies in the EU legal order. The ECJ in Centros, Überseering and in Inspire Art have changed the business landscape by opening up Europe to legislatory competition in corporate law. The Court held that a company’s legal personality and its capacity to be a party to legal proceedings must be respected all over Europe. Companies can now be found in a Member State without having later any further relations to it, this having been a central obstacle to legislative competition in the past.