유럽주식회사법 최근 동향에 관한 연구

Abstract

유럽연합에서 회사법 통일의 노력은 리스본조약 이전부터 회사법과 관련한 규칙과 지침을 설정했다는 점에서 중요한 의미를 지닌다. 유럽연합 회사법의 법규범은 자체의 규칙을 통해 유럽주식회사라는 개념을 설정하였으며, 공개유한책임회사인 유럽주식회사와 더불어, 2008년 이후에는 중소기업을 위한 폐쇄유한책임회사에 대한 입법도 추진하고 있다. 최근 유럽주식회사법을 근거로 설립된 회사의 수가 증가되면서 발전된 형태의 회사법에 대한 논의가 활발히 진행되고 있으며, 이는 우리나라 회사법 분야에서도 흥미로운 주제가 된다. 기존의 유럽회사법에 관한 국내연구는 전반적인 유럽회사규칙 및 지침에 대한 내용을 소개하고 있으나, 근래에 이루어지고 있는 회원국 법률간 하향경쟁과 이를 통한 회원국의 입법에서의 변화, 그리고 유럽에서의 회사법연구에 대한 최근 논의에 대해서 다시 다루어 볼 필요가 있다. 따라서 이글에서는 유럽연합조약을 통한 설립의 자유와 이를 통한 각 회원국의 법률 간 경쟁과 유럽주식회사규칙의 제정 배경에 대해서 살펴보고 현재 유럽주식회사규칙의 내용을 평가한다.

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.