Home / Company Law and CG / Company Law / Transfer of seat

Cross-border Transfer of the Registered Offices of Limited Liability Companies (planned 14th Company Law Directive)

The so-called 14th Company Law Directive will, if it comes into effect, make it possible for companies to transfer their registered offices – their legal headquarters – to somewhere else in the EU. Until now such an action was either not possible at all or required the company to be liquidated in its country of origin before it could be re-founded with its registered office in the new country. The Directive would make it possible, for example, for a German GmbH to transfer its registered office to the UK, and at the same time transform itself into a UK Ltd. That means that after the transfer of the registered office the company is organised by UK company law and no longer by German company law.