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PRINCIPLES OF THE SINGLE MARKET OF SERVICES

INTRODUCTION:

PRINCIPLES:

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Inside the European Union there is no company law which regulates the company acts of the Member States, so they continue operating separately. Member States have to comply with EU directives and regulations. The efforts for establishing a modern and efficient company law and corporate governance framework for European undertakings, investors and employees aim to improve the business environment in the EU.

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OBJECTIVES:

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In order to create an efficient corporate governance framework, the EU tries to create a wide business environment within the European Market.

The aim of this EU rules is to allow businesses and companies to be settled in any Member State, with the guarantees of free movement of people, services and capital, to provide protection for shareholders and other parties with a particular interest in companies, to make businesses more competitive, and to encourage businesses to cooperate over borders.

To make this possible, companies must act throughout the EU complying with the uniform legal framework.

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ACHIEVEMENTS:

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A minimum set of common obligations :

Despite we don´t have a European Company Law, Member States have harmonised their national rules in order to create some minimum standards and covers areas such as the protection of interests of shareholders and their rights, rules on takeover bids for public limited companies, branch disclosure, mergers and divisions, minimum rules for single-member private limited liability companies, financial reporting and accounting, easier and faster access to information on companies, and certain disclosure requirements for companies.

EU legal entities:

Member States have created some legal entities, which act throughout the EU and that coexist with the national ones:

-The European Company (SE)

-The European Cooperative Society (SCE)

-European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG)

 -Single-member private limited liability company (SUP)

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CORE PRINCIPLES:

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As it´s established in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services guarantee mobility of businesses and professionals within the EU.

-The freedom to establish a company in another EU country:  to carry on an economic activity in a stable and continuous way in another Member State.

-The freedom to provide or receive services in an EU country other than the one where the company or consumer is established: offer and provide their services in other Member States on a temporary basis while remaining in their country of origin.

This implies eliminating discrimination, and, in order to make an effective use of this freedoms, the EU has to adopt some measures like the harmonisation of national access rules or their mutual recognition.

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