DG Markt has started an online consultation on the cross-border transfer of registered seats as part of its new Action Plan on corporate governance and company law.

Most of the questions are aimed at companies and seem to be an information gathering exercise, e.g. has the company recently transferred its seat, what the cost was, etc. However, some questions deal more with subjective attitudes and are aimed more broadly at respondents other than companies, particularly section V. The design of an instrument - What should an EU instrument on the direct transfer of registered offices of companies look like?

1. Should the transfer of a registered office be compulsory along with the transfer of the headquarters (main office)?

2. Would the choice left to the Member State whether the transfer of the registered office has to be followed or not by the transfer of the headquarters (main office) be workable?

and particularly important for worker participation:

3. How should the question of employee participation be optimally solved in the case of a transfer of a registered office? By applying the same rules on the employee participation as in:

  • Cross-Border Merger Directive
  • SE Statute
  • other

The online consultation is open until 16.04.2013.