Austria: the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance

In January this year the Austrian Working Group on Corporate Governance published an amended edition of its Corporate Governance Code. A copy of the code, in English, is now available: see here (pdf).

Europe: European Company (SE) - study and consultation

The European Commission has launched a consultation the purpose of which is to test the results of a study by Ernst & Young concerning the operation of the European Company Statute. The following background information is provided in the accompanying press release:

The European Company Statute, commonly known by its Latin name of 'Societas Europaea' or SE, was adopted on 8 October 2001, after more than 30 years of negotiation, and became available for use on 8 October 2004. A total of 431 SEs were registered as at 10 September 2009.

The SE has proved to be very popular in some Member States. Well known examples of successful SEs are Allianz, BASF, Porsche, Fresenius and MAN from Germany, SCOR from France, Elcoteq from Luxembourg and Strabag from Austria. However, in other Member States the SE has not taken off ... In order to determine whether changes are needed to make the SE Statute work better, the European Commission has launched a public consultation. With the review of the SE Statute, the Commission is aiming to increase the use of the SE across the European Union".

For further information, including a summary of the E&Y study report, see here.

Austria: amendments to the corporate governance code

The Austrian Working Group on Corporate Governance has published amendments to the 2009 Code (currently available in German only): see here (pdf).