• Journal of Legislation Research
• /
• no.41
• /
• pp.229-260
• /
• 2011

European Union (EU) law has been a complex but at the same time fascinating subject of study due to its dynamic evolution. In particular, the Lisbon Treaty which entered into force in December 2009 represents the culmination of a decade of attempts at Treaty reform and harmonisation in diverse sectors. Amongst the EU private law fields, company law harmonisation has been one of the hotly debated issues with regards to the freedom of establishment in the internal market. Due to the significant differences between national provisions on company law, it seemed somewhat difficult to harmonise company law. However, Council Regulation 2157/2001 was legislated in 2001 and now provides the basis for the Statute for a European Company (or Societas Europaea: SE). The Statute is also supplemented by the Council Directive 2001/86 on the involvement of employees. The SE Statute is a legal measure in order to contribute to the internal market, and provides a choice for companies that wish to merge, create a joint subsidiary or convert a subsidiary into an SE. Through this option, the SE became a corporate form which is only available to existing companies incorporated in different Member States in the EU. The important question on the meaning of the SE Statute is whether the distinctive characteristics of the SE make it an attractive option to ensure significant numbers of SE registration. In fact, the outcome that has been made through the SE Statute is an example of regulatory competition. The traditional regulatory competition in the freedom of establishment has been the one between national statutes between Member States. However, this time is not a competition between Member States, which means that the Union has joined the area in competition between legal orders and is now in competition with the systems of company law of the Member States.Key Words : European Union, EU Company Law, Societas Europaea, SE Statute, One-tier System, Two-tier System, Race to the Bottom A quite number of scholars expect that the number of SE will increase significantly. Of course, there is no evidence of regulatory competition that Korea faces currently. However, because of the increasing volume of international trade and expansion of regional economic bloc, it is necessary to consider the example of development of EU company law. Addition to the existing SE Statute, the EU Commission has also proposed a new corporate form, Societas Private Europaea (private limited liable company). All of this development in European company law will help firms make their best choice for company establishment. The Delaware-style development in the EU will foster the race to the bottom, thereby improving the contents of company law. To conclude, the study on the development of European company law becomes important to understand the evolution of company law and harmonisation efforts in the EU.