The presentation of a draft prepared by aides for a »Law for the modernisation of GmbH legislation and fight against abuses« (MoMiG) which was presented in Berlin on May 29th by the Federal Minister of Justice, Mrs. Brigitte Zypries, may be interpreted as a reaction to the growing popularity of the British “Limited” (⇒ Wikipedia) legal form which is already now very popular with German company founders. The draft proposes extensive facilitations for the setting up of a German private limited company (GmbH).
Thus, the nominal capital of a GmbH is to be reduced to at least 10.000 Euros instead of currently 25.000 Euros. Of these 10.000 Euros only 5.000 Euros have to be paid up on the setting up of the GmbH. According to the initiators of the draft, for one-man GmbHs the previous collateral security could be dropped altogether. The creators of the draft also hope for a substantial easing and acceleration of administrative procedures resulting from the introduction of an electronic commercial register in accordance with the »Law on electronic commercial, cooperative and entrepreneurial registers« (EHUG) which will take effect on the 1st of January 2007. Company founders will then be able to submit all relevant documents electronically. Even a notarial authentication may be sent to a court´s electronic mail box.
However, there are still some obstacles for the draft to overcome. The next step is a government draft. The draft may be cast into law only by the end of 2007 at the earliest.
Previous articles on this subject matter published on MittelstandsBlog.DE are:
