New Proposed Company Form: EU Inc.

On March 18, 2026, the European Commission (EC) published its Proposal for a Regulation establishing a new corporate legal framework - "EU Inc.", which introduces a harmonized set of rules for a new EU company form, the EU Inc. Companies in the EU can choose this form, regardless of their size, their business, their EU country of incorporation and/or headquarter. The aim is to facilitate starting and growing a business in the EU, attracting investments, and reducing the costs of failure.

The proposed regulation is seen as the key legislative measure of a wider response from the EU institutions to the demands of the European startup ecosystem, which is further laid out in the accompanying "Communication towards a 28th regime". The regulation is also accompanied by a Recommendation providing first-ever EU-wide definitions of "innovative enterprises", "innovative startups" and "innovative scaleups".