European Commission is introducing EU Inc. To make building and growing a business across the EU faster, simpler, and smarter.

Key Points:

• Start a company in less than 48 hours
• No minimum capital requirement
• Fully online and borderless

Innovators and founders won’t have to navigate 27 different rulebooks anymore. No more delays that slow down innovation. Just one set of rules designed for startups, scaleups, and global investors.

EU Inc. is the Commission's proposal for an optional "28th regime" EU-wide company form: fully online setup in <48h for <€100, no minimum capital, one harmonized rulebook (instead of 27 national ones), borderless Single Market access, digital ops/lifecycle, flexible shares, simplified insolvency.

Main features of EU inc. include:

• Faster registration: Entrepreneurs, founders, and companies will be able to found an EU Inc. company within 48 hours, for less than €100 and with no minimum share capital requirements.
• Simpler procedures: EU Inc. companies will only need to submit their company information once, via an EU-level interface connecting national business registers together. In a second step, the Commission will establish a new central EU register. EU Inc. companies will obtain their tax identification and VAT numbers without having to resubmit paperwork.
• Fully digital operations: Corporate processes will be digital by default throughout a company's lifecycle.
• Helping founders restart faster and cheaper: EU Inc. companies will have access to fully digital liquidation procedures. Innovative startups will have access to simplified insolvency procedures to facilitate the winding down of operations. This enables founders to try and test innovative ideas and start again if needed.
• Better conditions to attract investment: Today's proposal will remove in-person formalities, provide digital procedures for financing operations, and simplify the transfer of shares. There will be no more mandatory involvement of intermediaries for share transfers, and liquidation procedures.The proposal will also allow Member States to give EU Inc. companies access to the stock exchange.
• Better means to attract talents: EU Inc. companies will be able to set up EU-wide employee stock option plans. The stock option will only be taxed on the income generated once it is sold. This is a crucial factor in ensuring attractiveness, particularly for innovative startups.
• Full access to the Single Market: EU Inc. companies will be free to choose the Member State in which they incorporate. The proposal includes a blacklist of prohibited practices to ensure that EU Inc. companies are treated the same way as any other national companies.
• Strong safeguards against abuse: National employment and social laws are not affected by the proposal. They will apply to EU Inc. the same way they apply to any other business under national company law. The applicable safeguards of the Member State of registration will apply in full to the EU Inc. company, including when it comes to rules regarding co-determination.
• Flexibility of shares: EU Inc. companies will have the flexibility to create different classes of shares with varying economic or voting rights. This can, for example, help founders protect their business against hostile takeovers.

Read more here.