WRITTEN QUESTION P-0569/02 by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission. Follow-up to Question E-2783/00.
Date: 2002-02-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, application of EU law, company law, early-stage capital, national implementing measure, registration of a company, registration tax

C 277 E/62

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.11.2002

As a general rule, there is no obligation for Norway to have its legislation compatible with the Community
Directives in the area of VAT, as Community Directives only apply to Member States and not to third
countries. This would apply also to the provisions concerning VAT reverse charges.

Nevertheless, Article 14 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, to which Norway is signatory,
provides that contracting parties shall not
impose, directly or indirectly, on the products of other
contracting parties any internal taxation of any kind in excess of that imposed directly or indirectly on
similar domestic products. Furthermore, contracting parties shall not impose on the products of other
contracting parties any internal taxation of such a nature as to afford indirect protection to other products.

The power to investigate the compatibility of an EEA European Free Trade Association (EFTA) contracting
party’s legislation with the EEA Agreement lies with the EFTA Surveillance Authority; the Authority has
the power to initiate infringement procedures by bringing the matter to the EFTA Court of Justice, if it
finds the legislation of a contracting party to be incompatible with the provisions of the Agreement. The
Commission has no such power of action against Norway, as infringement procedures under the EC Treaty
are only applicable vis-à-vis Member States and not vis-à-vis third countries.

(2002/C 277 E/066)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0569/02

by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 February 2002)

Subject: Follow-up to Question E-2783/00

I refer to my Written Question E-2783/00 (1) asking whether the Danish law requiring securities to be
lodged when registering companies was compatible with Community rules, and my follow-up letter of
27 March 2001 to the Commission, to both of which the Commission replied that it would deal with the
matter once it had received additional information. Has additional information reached the Commission
yet, which would allow it to answer my original question?

(1) OJ C 136 E, 8.5.2001, p. 95.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(3 April 2002)

The Commission has begun a detailed examination of the rules referred to by the Honourable Member on
the basis of the information provided by the Danish authorities. It will soon be in a position, therefore, to
say whether those rules are compatible with the principles of the EC Treaty as referred to by the Court of
Justice in Centros.

At issue is the matter of the minimum capital requirement for setting up a company. Following the Lisbon
European Council (23 and 24 March 2000), a benchmarking exercise on the length of time and the costs
involved in setting up a company was conducted. The results have now been published and can be found
at
the website: europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/entrepreneurship/support_measures/start-ups/benchmark-
ing.htm.

The usefulness of a minimum level of capital in the case of limited companies is also on the agenda of the
High-Level Expert Group on Company Law, which was set up in September 2001 and instructed to submit
to the Commission recommendations for modernising company law. The Group will present its report in
July. Its recommendations could have a major impact on the establishment of companies in Europe. and in
particular the concept of minimum capital.