We are pleased to inform you about the upcoming publication at Lextenso of the legal textbook “The integration of European business law: acquis and outlook”. Written in English, German and French, this textbook is authored by 14 prominent lawyers and practitioners from the Association Henri Capitant. It summarizes all the business law harmonization work conducted to this day by the European Commission, singles out the shortfalls of this critical European body of laws and sets forth a roadmap for the implementation of a European business law Code. It will be presented to the press on October 4 (go to OHADA.com news dated September 20 and September 28, 2016) and available for sale as of October 11.

This Code will address the needs of hundreds of thousands of companies, whether small, medium or large and will play a significant role in bolstering economic, social and fiscal convergence within the Eurozone.

The European business law Code project will be discussed next March in Rome, on the occasion of the celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The preface of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing below is a very precise description of the rationale of the project.

For more information, please contact contact@henricapitant.org.

Preface by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Business law is a powerful vector of economic, tax and social convergence, which is essential for the consolidation of the euro, while the euro itself is now the cornerstone of European integration.

I am happy to preface this work by fourteen academics and practitioners from the Association Henri Capitant entitled “The integration of European business law: acquis and outlook” as it shows that European leaders have not taken sufficient account of this aspect of law, which governs companies' day to day activities.

It is these hundreds of thousands of companies, whether small, medium or large, which are the driving force of the European economies and their necessary convergence.

These economic players, whether manufacturers or business people, are the primary source of wealth creation, growth and employment. Since they operate within a unified monetary area, characterised by the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, they must evolve in a convergent legal, tax and social environment. This is why it is time to base the single currency, the euro, on a unified business law.

In my view, this study by the Association Henri Capitant, which has the support of the Civil Law Initiative (Fondation pour le droit continental), the Paris bar and the National Bar Council, provides a valuable survey of the EU acquis and its inadequacies.

It presents subjects for the consideration of European leaders which could lead to the drafting of a European business law code. This would constitute a practical and decisive step in the process of legal integration within the eurozone, in the key field of the economic life of companies and employment.

I would like to warmly thank the Association Henri Capitant for this work, and hope that the ideas of these legal experts will be analysed with the greatest attention by the European institutions and leaders of all the countries that share the euro.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing