1. ECJ, Case C-212/97 Centros Ltd. v. Erhvervs- og Selskabsstyrelsen [1999] ECR I-1459; Case C-208/00 Überseering BV v. Nordic Construction Company Baumanagement GmbH [2002] ECR I-9919; Case C-167/01 Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken voor Amsterdam v. Inspire Art Ltd. [2003] ECR I-10155.
2. In particular, the grant of freedom of establishment in Arts. 43 and 48 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, Nice Consolidated Version, 24 December 2002, OJ 2002 C 325/33, 53 and 54 (hereinafter, EC).
3. It has been pointed out by commentators that the ECJ’s elaborations cannot be grasped by simply subsuming them under national conflict of corporate laws rules, but that they call for an unprecedented European legal model. For a detailed analysis, cf. Eddy Wymeersch, ‘The Transfer of the Company’s Seat in European Company Law’, European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) Working Paper No. 08/2003 (March 2003) pp. 23–29, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=384802 (coining the term ‘Community formation theory’); Horst Eidenmüller and Gebhard Rehm, ‘Niederlassungsfreiheit versus Schutz des inländischen Rechtsverkehrs: Konturen des Eurpäischen Internationalen Gesellschaftsrechts’ [Freedom of Establishment versus Protection of Domestic Legal Relations: Outline of a European Conflict of Corporate Laws], 33 Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht (ZGR.) (2004) p. 159 at pp. 164–166 (same).
4. For a further discussion of Centros, cf. Werner F. Ebke, ‘Centros — Some Realities and Some Mysteries’, 48 Am. J. Comp. L. (2000) p. 623; Eva Micheler, ‘The Impact of the Centros Case on Europe’s Company Laws’, 21 Company Law (2000) p. 179; Helen Xanthaki, ‘Secondary Establishment of Companies within the EU: A Real Challenge or Another Missed Opportunity?’, 10 Eur. Bus. L. Rev. (1999) p. 120. For commentaries on Überseering, cf. Mads Andenas, ‘Free Movement of Companies’, 119 Law Q. Rev. (2003) p. 221; Thomas Bachner, ‘Freedom of Establishment for Companies: a Great Leap Forward’, 62 Cambridge L.J. (2003) p. 47; Eva Micheler, ‘Recognition of Companies Incorporated in Other EU Member States’, 52 Int’l. & Comp. L.Q. (2003) p. 521 at pp. 524–529; Wulf-Henning Roth, ‘From Centros to Ueberseering: Free Movement of Companies, Private International Law, and Community Law’, 52 Int’l. & Comp. L.Q. (2003) p. 177; Frank Wooldridge, ‘Überseering: Freedom of Establishment of Companies Affirmed’, 14 Eur. Bus. L. Rev. (2003) p. 221.
5. The converse position still represented after Centros (for an overview, cf. Christin M. Forstinger, Takeover Law in the EU and the USA (The Hague, Kluwer Law International 2002) pp. 34–48; Christian Kersting, ‘Corporate Choice of Law — A Comparison of The United States and European Systems and a Proposal for a European Directive’, 28 Brook. J. Int’l. L. (2002) p. 1 at pp. 39–40, nn. 206 and 207) is no longer sustainable.