EU Inc (the 28th regime) · 2026/0074(COD)
Supports a simple, accessible, and proportionate EU Inc. with digital procedures and legal clarity but wants changes on scope, setup, capital safeguards, and legal hierarchy.
Withdraw the recommendation to narrowly define 'innovative start-ups' and 'scale-ups' as it risks excluding many SMEs and focus instead on reducing barriers for all SMEs.
“Focusing too narrowly on technological innovation when defining 'innovative start-ups' and 'scale-ups' risks excluding many SMEs. Therefore, the recommendation should be withdrawn.”
Feedback, 2026-06-10
Make the 28th Regime accessible to all types of companies, not limited to start-ups or scale-ups.
“To truly create incentives for SMEs to go cross border, the 28 Regime should be accessible to all type of companies”
Feedback, 2025-09-30
Allow companies to opt in to the 28th Regime at any stage of their life cycle.
“be an opt-in at any stage of life of a company”
Feedback, 2025-09-30
Ensure the 28th Regime guarantees a level playing field for all companies using it.
“and guarantee the level playing field.”
Feedback, 2025-09-30
Clarify responsibilities for checks and supervision across Member States to ensure consistent enforcement and avoid gaps; allow Member States to use existing identity verification and due diligence frameworks; keep preventive controls proportionate and avoid cumulative procedural requirements; refer to 'national preventive administrative, judicial, or notarial control' to avoid mandatory combinations that create burdens.
“the Regulation should clearly allocate responsibilities for conducting and supervising such checks across Member States... Where Member States already have established mechanisms for identity verification, UBO due diligence and sanctions/PEP screening at incorporation, the Regulation should explicitly allow Member States to use these frameworks... preventive controls should remain proportionate and should not result in cumulative procedural requirements... we suggest Article 14 (1) to refer to ‘national preventive administrative, judicial, or notarial control’ instead of ‘any combination thereof’, to ensure combination does not become mandatory and create unnecessary burden.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 5
Design the 28th Regime as an optional, harmonised legal framework that reduces compliance burdens and legal uncertainty for companies expanding cross-border.
“By providing a harmonised, optional legal framework, the regime could substantially reduce compliance burdens, increase legal certainty, and foster entrepreneurial growth.”
Feedback, 2025-09-30
Design the 28th Regime to lower legal and administrative barriers, including fragmentation, complex information access, and language barriers faced by SMEs expanding cross-border.
Include safeguards such as solvency tests and creditor protection mechanisms to protect creditors, especially smaller ones, and reflect the importance of intangible assets in capital contributions.
Support the introduction of a voluntary EU-wide employee stock option plan with deferred taxation until shares are sold to reduce financial burden on employees.
“SMEunited welcomes the introduction of a voluntary, EU-wide framework for employee stock option plans... SMEunited supports the approach of deferring taxation until the shares are sold.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 8
Clarify and possibly simplify language requirements for articles of association to avoid administrative burdens and legal uncertainty, including clarifying reliability and dispute resolution mechanisms for AI translations.
“The language requirements set out in Article 7 may contradict the objective of simplification... it would be worth clarifying the reliability of AI tools, including mechanisms to resolve potential discrepancies between language versions and ensure legal certainty.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 8
Clarify that free choice of registered office affects only company law and does not affect application of national rules on taxation, labour law, and co-determination, which rely on other connecting factors.
“it should be clarified that the free choice of registered office only affects the applicable company law and does not affect the application of national rules relating to areas such as taxation, labour law, and co-determination.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 3
Establish the EU Inc. through a regulation to ensure uniform application, reduce fragmentation, lower administrative burden, and guarantee automatic recognition across Member States.
“It is essential that the framework is established through a regulation to ensure uniform application across all Member States, prevent fragmentation, reduce administrative burden and guarantee automatic recognition of the legal form.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 1
Clarify the legal hierarchy so that articles of association comply with national law and only derogate where expressly permitted, to avoid legal uncertainty and circumvention of mandatory provisions.
“SMEunited further highlights the lack of clarity in Article 4(2) regarding the hierarchy of applicable legal sources... SMEunited therefore proposes that the Regulation should explicitly state that articles of association must comply with applicable national law., and only derogate from it where expressly permitted.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 3
Build the 28th Regime on previous initiatives like the European Company Statute to strengthen the Single Market and empower SMEs.
“The initiative of a 28th Regime, building on former initiative such as the European Company Statute, could bring solutions and ease companies growth cross-border.”
Feedback, 2025-09-30
Focus on implementing the Insolvency III Directive rather than adding overlapping measures; do not reintroduce insolvency proceedings without insolvency practitioners as this harms creditor protection; ensure practical usability of fast-track liquidation procedures.
“As the Insolvency III Directive has just been adopted, focus should be on its implementation instead of adding new, potentially overlapping or contradictory measures... an insolvency proceeding without an insolvency practitioner was deemed unsuitable... Therefore, reintroducing this idea for innovative start-ups is not convincing. Further, the practical usability of fast-track liquidation procedures must be ensured.”
SMEu_A 28th Regime – the ‘EU Inc.’ – for SMEs.pdf, page 8
Open source underneath
WhoShapedIt is a thin layer on open-source packages. Star them, fork them, build your own micro.
Open-source context and state for AI: it keeps only what matters for the question.
In WhoShapedIt: Reads every lobby submission and position paper and each official text, cut into passages, and judges each passage against nine questions (who can use EU Inc, workers on the board, tax…), so every ask and every step is read on the passages that address it.
Open-source Svelte components for clean, accessible interfaces.
In WhoShapedIt: The status, the timeline, the theme picker, the camps of lobbies and the organisation pages.
Also built with SvelteKit · Vercel AI SDK · Zod