The European Foundation Centre organised a small expert table discussion with leading foundation law researchers on key elements of a European Foundation Statute on April 28th in Brussels.
Legal scholars and practitioners have long been discussing the realisation of a European Statute for foundations. As announced in the Single Market Act, the European Commission is committed to put forward a proposal on a European Foundation Statute before the end of 2011 and is currently working on the impact assessment. The aim of this meeting was to gather leading foundation law researchers' input on some key questions related to the European Foundation Statute (EFS). In particular as some questions and comments raised by Member States’ representatives on the key elements of a possible EFS during the 2009 public consultation and new trends in foundation and company law suggested the need for a fresh review of some of the existing proposals on how the EFS might look.
The event focused on civil law matters including minimum founding assets, definition of a cross-border dimension, public benefit criteria, economic activity, transfer of seat. A potential follow up meeting is considered for Autumn 2011. More information on the European Foundation Statute can be found here.