Summary

Cross-border movement of companies is a field of contradictory emotions and wishes in the European Union. On the one hand, the need to ensure that all companies in the Member States are provided with the freedom to choose their place of registration and operation within the European Union, based strictly on economic criteria and without getting caught in the legal details, is understood and considered important; on the other hand, there is still some amount of scepticism towards foreign companies and company law, and a wish to protect one selves from an excessive influx of foreign companies. The European Commission has also not shown much initiative in this field lately. However, companies aiming to move across borders have found a friend in the European Court of Justice, which has already enabled the companies of the European Union to move from one Member State to another in several ways.

This article presents an overview of what is meant by cross-border movement of companies, to what extent does European Union Law enable the cross-border movement of companies, and what are the most topical issues of discussion in this field. The article explains the issue of law applied to companies, gives a short overview of the relevant EU legislation, and views the case-law of the European Court of Justice in the field of cross-border movement. The article ends with a brief overview of the impact of the case-law of the European Court of Justice on Estonian law.