European Union: Corporate/Commercial Law

The Luxembourg Business Registers has issued new guidance requiring entities held by fiducies, trusts, or foundations to look through these structures when determining beneficial ownership for registration purposes. This circular introduces significant changes to how beneficial owners must be identified and reported, aligning Luxembourg's approach with upcoming EU regulations and potentially requiring many entities to review and amend their existing registrations.

Without legal structure, ownership is conditional, control is temporary, and transfer is uncertain. This article examines why wealth accumulation alone is meaningless without proper legal architecture, exploring how estate planning, cross-border structuring, and jurisdictional frameworks determine whether assets remain protected and transferable across generations.

New UK regulations effective 30 June 2026 have expanded Trust Registration Service requirements for non-UK trusts holding UK property acquired before 6 October 2020. Cyprus trustees must now navigate complex cross-border compliance obligations, reconcile beneficial ownership reporting across multiple jurisdictions, and understand the critical distinction between direct property ownership and corporate holding structures.

Cyprus has fundamentally altered its corporate tax residence rules, effective January 2026, creating automatic tax residency for all Cyprus-incorporated companies unless a double tax treaty explicitly provides otherwise.

The European Parliament's draft report on the EU Inc. framework introduces significant changes that could reshape how innovative companies operate across borders, particularly around employee participation rights and eligibility criteria. Rather than simply streamlining incorporation, the evolving proposal emphasizes balancing competitiveness with worker protections and corporate governance requirements.

The European Union has introduced Directive (EU) 2026/799, establishing pre-pack proceedings that allow distressed businesses to be sold confidentially before formal insolvency begins. Portugal now faces the challenge of transposing these provisions into national law by 2029, requiring the creation of an entirely new legal framework to preserve business value and protect creditors.

The Irish High Court has clarified the scope of statutory exemptions under the Data Protection Act 2018, ruling that organisations can legitimately refuse data subject access requests when legal privilege, client confidentiality, or litigation interests are at stake. This landmark decision establishes clear boundaries between different exemption provisions and confirms their compatibility with GDPR Article 23, providing much-needed guidance for organisations navigating complex disclosure obligations.

The Irish High Court has addressed a fundamental question about legal advice privilege in corporate law: can a company assert privilege against its own shareholders? This decision examines the controversial 'shareholder rule' and its compatibility with the principle of separate legal personality established in Salomon v Salomon, following the Privy Council's recent rejection of this rule in England and Wales.

France has enacted Law No. 2026-122, establishing a groundbreaking confidentiality regime for in-house legal counsel opinions, addressing a longstanding competitive disadvantage faced by French companies in cross-border disputes.

The European Commission has intensified its investigation into alleged price coordination within the construction chemicals sector across France, Germany, and Spain. Following unannounced inspections in October 2023...

When a company enters bankruptcy proceedings within the European Union, insolvency practitioners must navigate a complex intersection of duties: administering the estate while ensuring strict compliance with GDPR requirements for processing personal data. The recent Co-Med healthcare bankruptcy in the Netherlands illustrates how modern insolvency practice requires careful handling of sensitive information, from medical records to employee data, while balancing statutory obligations with fundamental privacy

Malta's Financial Services Authority has dramatically expanded its supervisory capabilities, growing its workforce by 160% and increasing supervisory engagements by 350%. An academic paper examines how the regulator's innovative outcomes-based approach, particularly through 'Dear CEO' letters and structured industry outreach, achieves market-wide behavioral change without resource-intensive individual inspections of every licensed entity.