Overview
The policy initiative concerns the development of a new '28th regime' for companies, an optional and harmonised set of EU rules intended to operate alongside the 27 existing national company law regimes. The initiative is at a pre-legislative stage, with the European Commission preparing a proposal. The analysis is based on the provided procedural data, public consultation feedback, records of stakeholder outreach, and media reports.
Institutional handling
The initiative is being developed within the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), under the responsibility of Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné. Within the Council of the EU, the dossier will fall under the remit of the Competitiveness Council (COMPET).
Stakeholder reactions
A public consultation on the initiative received 432 feedbacks from 419 organisations, demonstrating significant stakeholder interest. The consultation revealed strong consensus support across key topics. On 'EU Single Market harmonisation', which received feedback from 395 organisations, the sentiment was strongly supportive. Similarly, on 'Overall simplification of regulation in the EU', feedback from 351 organisations also showed strong consensus support. The topic of 'EU Competition policy', with feedback from 56 organisations, garnered a supportive consensus.
Parallel to the consultation, there has been extensive direct stakeholder engagement, with 140 documented meetings involving policymakers. Of these, 33 were with Members of the European Parliament, 81 with Commissioners, and 26 with European Commission staff, involving 80 distinct organisations. The most active organisations in these engagements include the European Startup Network, France Digitale, STRT Holding Nyrt., GIZ, and the Slovenski tehnološki forum.
Detailed positions from these meetings align with the consultation findings. On the goal of Single Market harmonisation, France Digitale and the European Startup Network strongly support the creation of a '28th regime' to remove national regulatory barriers. 33East Limited and GIZ also expressed support, with the latter framing the regime as an opportunity to address market fragmentation. Regarding regulatory simplification, France Digitale, the European Startup Network, the Chamber of Progress, and the Association pour l'Unification du Droit, des affaires en Europe (AUDE) all strongly support the initiative as a means to create an optional, simplified EU framework, with AUDE explicitly advocating for a unified European Business Code.
Media coverage
Media reporting on the initiative has been noted within broader coverage of EU affairs. One article previewed an expected Commission proposal in April for cross-border company registration, contextualising it within wider discussions on EU energy-market reforms.