The UK's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has published a response to its recent consultation on the proposal for a European Council Regulation on the Statute for a European private company (SPE).The Government notes that the SPE is unlikely to be significantly more attractive than the UK private company but it nevertheless recognises that it may be useful for some enterprises. With regard to share capital, the Government endorses the 1 Euro minimum, stating that anything much higher would reduce the SPE's attractiveness. The Government also states that directors' duties should be left to national law because Member States "have widely varying and well-established regimes ... and the UK has, as part of the Companies Act, put directors' duties on a statutory footing".
Last month, the draft SPE Regulation was approved (and amended) by the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee: see here. It will now be considered by the European Parliament on March 9 (along with a motion for a resolution on the cross border transfer of companies' registered offices). Changes made by the Legal Affairs Committee include the requirement that the SPE should have a "cross-border component" (e.g., founding members in different Member States or business activities covering more than one State), which must be verified two years after the SPE's incorporation. The Committee also added the requirement for a "solvency certificate" stating that the SPE is able to pay its debts. Where this is not provided, the minimum share capital becomes 8,000 Euros.
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