On the 27th July 2009 the Council of the European Union announced that it had adopted, without debate, the proposed "simplification directive", amending the Second (77/91/EEC), Third (78/855/EEC) and Sixth (82/891/EEC) Company Law Directives, and the Cross-Border Mergers Directive (2005/56/EC).
(Luxembourg has just implemented the Cross-Border Mergers Directive: see here.)
The intention of the draft directive is to simplify the reporting and documentation requirements for mergers and divisions. It was amended by the European Parliament, with those amendments being accepted by the Commission on the 22nd April 2009, and now by the Council.
Once the draft directive has been signed by the relevant institutions, it will be published in the Official Journal. It will come into force twenty days after publication and must be implemented by member states by the 30th June 2011.
Update: the Directive came into force on the 20th October 2009.
The implementation deadline remains the 30th June 2011.
Added: 27th July 2009 - Updated: 20th October 2009
