LMU Europäisches und Internationales Unternehmensrecht (European and International Company Law) Summer Term 2013 Prof. Dr. Horst Eidenmüller, LL.M. (Cambridge)

Unit 1 - Course content and methodological approach; Course outline; Functioning of the European Union (EU); The origin of the EU and recent developments; Growth of the EU; EU institutions: The European Council, European Commission, European Parliament, Council, Court of Justice of the European Union; Sources of European law; Supremacy of European law; Hierarchy of laws; Legislative competences (Arts. 2-6 TFEU); Legislative procedure; A "United States of Europe "?.

Unit 2 - Company formation: general requrements, instrument of constiution/statutes, registration, consequences of irregulatories; Corporate governance and board structure; One- and two-tier boards; Convergence of board models in practice; "Deutschland AG": a close-knit web of control; Shareholders and boards; Employee involvement; Employee participation on establishment level; Board-level representation: comparative view; Board-level representation in Europe.

Unit 1 - A "United States of Europe"?; The EU's internal market: overview; The EU's internal market at eye level with the US; Integration through liberalization: Fundamental Freedoms; Integration through secondary law; Integration and the role of competition law; Company law: integration until 1989; Company Law Directives; Company law: 1989 until 2002/03 - deadlock; The Commission's Company Law Action Plan (2003); Reflection process on the future of EU company law; The Commission's Company Law Action Plan (2012).

Unit 2 - Assessing board-level representation; Empirical studies on board-level representation; Shareholders: who is a shareholder, types and classes of shares; shareholder rights: participation rights, financial rights, information rights; Protection of minority shareholders; Control-enhancing mechanisms (CEMs); One share/one vote?; European regulatory process on one share/one vote;
Unit 3 - Approaches to creditor protection.

Unit 3 - Creditor protection through legal capital; Second Company Law Directive 77/91/EEC; Distribution restrictions: Capital maintenance; Minimum capital rules; Critical assessment; Distribution restrictions based on solvency; Comperative Overview: distribution restrictions; The Springer case; Financial reporting; Harmonization in Europe; Overstretching disclosure?.

Unit 3 - Overstretching disclosure?; Consolidated accounts; IAS-Regulation; Impact of financial reporting standards on legal capital rules.
Unit 4 - The Centros case; Freedom of establishment (Art. 49 TFEU); Scope and effect of FoE; FoE for companies (Art. 54 TFEU); The real seat conflicts rule as obstacle.