1 The European Private Company Dissertation thesis Mgr. et Mgr. Igor Augustinič Abstract Supranational corporate forms as a means for supporting cross-border entrepreneurial activities on the internal market of the European Union are in the centre of interest of legislation and legal doctrine almost from the beginning of the European integration. However, a full-function corporate form oriented above all to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) cannot be found among the existing European corporate forms. It was this primary target group, the overwhelming majority of enterprises in Europe belongs to, and the project of the European private company - societas privata europaea - should be aimed at. The origins of the SPE project can be seen in academic debates on which supranational corporate form would be the most suitable for SMEs going back to the seventies of the twentieth century. Under the auspices of CREDA, Centre for Research of Commercial Law by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, the discussions were taken up again in the nineties of the twentieth century and led to the first Draft SPE Regulation being prepared by CREDA in 1997. It was a private draft that has served as a basis for further discussions on the SPE project. Since 2001, the initiative regarding the project has been taken over by the...

Nouvelle forme d’organisation de l’entreprise au sein d’un marché commun, la société commerciale supranationale peut relever de plusieurs ordres juridiques. En ce qui concerne, brevitatis causa, son « statut personnel », deux méthodes de rattachement législatif s’opposent. La méthode du rattachement unique lie la société au seul ordre juridique dont elle est issue, celle du rattachement opère une complémentarité entre l’ordre juridique supranational et celui du siège social. Les deux méthodes reconnaissent une marge de liberté statutaire. Le choix du rattachement juridique constitue enjeu crucial pour l’adoption du statut de ce type de société et, in fine, pour la réalisation des objectifs lui sont assignés. Seule l’Union européenne connaît de telles structures sociétaires et a choisi la méthode de la pluralité. Pour déterminer la pertinence de ce choix, la problématique est transposée au Mercosur qui envisage d’instituer une société supranationale et doit donc choisir son rattachement juridique. La méthode de l’unicité s’avère alors être la seule à pouvoir répondre aux exigences d’unité, d’uniformité et de cohérence du régime juridique de la société commerciale supranationale. Opposée à la méthode jusqu’ici privilégiée, la méthode du rattachement unique implique une indépendance du statut de cette société par rapport aux sources nationales. Ce choix de l’autonomie participe à l’édification d’un véritable droit des sociétés supranationales. Dans le contexte du Mercosur, ce changement de paradigme peut de surcroît contribuer à bâtir un ordre juridique mercosurien plus efficace dans ses rapports avec les systèmes étatiques. Ces mêmes conclusions autorisent alors à se demander in fine s’il ne faut pas effectuer en Europe un retour à la solution de principe envisagée jadis tant pour la société anonyme européenne que pour la société privée européenne et oser l’unicité du rattachement de ces sociétés à l’ordre juridique européen. / As a new corporate structure within a common market, the supranational trading corporation can be subjected to several legal systems. With respect, brevitatis causa, to its “personal status”, two legislative connecting methods oppose each other. The single connecting method links the company only to the legal system from which it originates, whereas the multiple connecting method leads to a complementarity between the supranational legal system and the legal system of the registered office. Both methods allow some leeway for statutory freedom. The choice of the legislative connection is a crucial issue in adopting the statute of this type of corporation, and, in fine, for the fulfillment of its assigned goals. Only the European Union adopts such corporate structures and it has chosen the multiple connecting method. In order to assess the pertinence of this choice, the problematic is transposed to the Mercosur which is considering to establish a supranational corporation form and is therefore facing the choice between those two connecting methods. The method of a single connection proves to be the only one to ensure unity, uniformity and coherence for the supranational company’s legal regime. As opposed to the preferred method up to now, it implies an independence of the company’s statute from national sources. This choice of autonomy contributes to building a true Law of Supranational Companies. In the context of Mercosur, this change in paradigm may furthermore contribute to creating a more efficient Mercosur’s legal order in relation to the national legal systems. These same conclusions allow us to question ourselves in fine if Europe should not consider returning to its first methodological approach envisaged formerly for both, the European Company and the European Private Company, in this sens daring to link these companies fundamentally to the European legal order.

Although private family organisations are prevalent role players in both the South African and international economies, limited research has been performed with regard to them. In terms of regulatory requirements, South African private organisations are neither legally required to comply with corporate governance principles, nor are they required to make their financial data available to the general public. Lack of available data, and limited available research, have resulted in an absence of clarity with regard to whether governance structures in private family organisations add any value to these organisations. This study therefore explores, through the use of a multiple-case study, how the individual private family organisations have structured their governance mechanisms, and the reasons as to why they chose to implement these structures. Both case studies revealed that governance structures, in general, add value. The implemented governance structures may even have contributed to the increase in financial performance over time. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

« L’Europe ne se fera pas en un jour, ni sans heurts.», dixit Monsieur Robert Schuman. Tel est le constat qui peut encore être fait à l’heure actuelle avec l’adoption, après trente ans d’intenses débats au niveau européen, de la Societas Europaea, introduite en droit français avec la loi du 26 juillet 2005 pour la confiance et la modernisation de l’économie, complétée par les décrets du 14 avril 2006 et du 9 novembre 2006. La même analyse peut s’appliquer à la proposition du règlement de la commission européenne relatif au statut de la société privée européenne faite le 25 juin 2008, en cours d’examen devant le Parlement Européen. Il s’agit de démontrer l’existence de normes communautaires flexibles propices au développement des normes statutaires, à l'image de celles applicables à la société privée européenne (SPE) d'origine communautaire et d'essence contractuelle. La SPE doit être analysée comme structure sociétaire, symbole de l’émancipation du droit communautaire et vecteur du principe de libre établissement des sociétés, à la fois par rapport à sa « grande cousine », la société européenne, et à travers l’étude des normes communautaires comme éléments nécessaires au bon fonctionnement des structures européennes.La question est enfin de savoir si le recours à la SPE constitue un instrument pertinent dans les opérations de restructuration intra-communautaire. Deux axes de réflexion semblent s’imposer : l’aménagement des relations contractuelles intragroupe via le modèle de la SPE et la SPE comme élément moteur dans le cadre des opérations de fusion intracommunautaire. / “Europe will not be made in a day, nor without any clashes,” according to Mr Robert Schuman. The statement proved to be true with the adoption, after thirty years of intense debates at the European level, of Societas Europaea, introduced into French law with the bill of July 26, 2005 for the confidence and modernization of the economy, supplemented by the decrees of April 14, 2006 and November 9, 2006. The same analysis can be made of the European Commission proposals for the regulations relating to the statute of the European private company made on June 25, 2008, and now under consideration before the European Parliament. The question is to show the existence of flexible Community standards favourable to the development of statutory standards, in the image of those applicable to the European Private Company of Community origin and which is contractual in essence. The European Private Company should be analysed as a member structure and a symbol of the emancipation of Community legislation as well as a vector of the principle of free establishment of companies both in relation to its “big cousin,” the European Company, and through the study of Community standards as necessary elements to the correct operation of European structures. The next step is to question if resorting to the European Private Company constitutes a relevant instrument in the operations of intracommunitarian reorganization following two main lines of investigation: the adjustment of contractual intragroup relations via the model of the European Private Company and the European Private Company as a mainspring within the framework of intracommunitarian fusion operations.

The main aim of European economic integration is to reach the common market of goods, services, persons and capital. To make this aim easier to realize in terms of free movement of capital, European Commission has created the statute of the European company (Societas Europaea, SE) as a new institute and corporate vehicle on the supranational level. The paper offers information about creation of the European company according to Comunitary and Czech national law and its corporate structure and mentions several concrete cases of company creation or transformation. The end of the study is dedicated to an analysis of the current usage of European company and advantages and disadvantages of this legal form of trading company together with a summary of current experience with the existence of European company and with the possible future of transnational companies within European Union.