The Status of the Law on Stock Companies in Central and Eastern-Europe : Facing the Challenge to Enter the European Union and Implement European Company Law

Most of the countries that are candidates for EU membership are from Central and Eastern Europe. Although their company laws are generally rooted in the Western (and Central) European legal tradition, the influence of Communism has also left a mark on their corporate law regimes. These regimes have recently undergone major changes, and the European Commission has declared that they are now largely in conformity with EU standards. As to rules concerning corporate governance in stock companies, European company law still leaves ample scope for national particularities. Central and Eastern European laws concerning stock companies allow for a great variety of different organisational structures, including pure two-tier systems, mixed systems and systems that provide a choice between one-tier and two-tier systems