SE (Societas Europaea)
The objective of the statute for a European company is to create a European company with its own legislative framework. This will allow companies incorporated in different Member States to merge or form a holding company or joint subsidiary, while avoiding the legal and practical constraints arising from the existence of 27 different legal systems.
An SE can be registered in any member state of the European Union, and the registration can be easily transferred to another member state. There is no EU-wide register of SEs (an SE is registered on the national register of the member state in which it has its head office).
SE can be created in the following ways:
- By merger of national companies from different member states
- By the creation of a joint venture between companies (or other entities) in different member states
- By the creation of a SE subsidiary of a national company
- By the conversion of a national company into an SE
SE must have a minimum subscribed capital of €120,000. In tax matters, the SE is treated the same as any other multinational, i.e. it is subject to the tax regime of the national legislation applicable to the company and its subsidiaries. SEs are subject to taxes and charges in all Member States where their administrative centres are situated. The process of setting up a tailor-made SE is similar to setting up a Slovak joint-stock company
