From October 8th 2004, European business life will be in a completely new situation as it will be possible to form a public limited liability company which is almost similar in each individual country and that can be formed through a cross-border merger between companies in different EU countries. Moreover, the company is in a unique legal position as it can move its place of home from one country to another without having to be dissolved and re-established. In other words, it can maintain its full legal constitution. The instrument that enables those extraordinary structural features to be used by European companies is called the SE Directive - a statute for a European company. This volume describes precisely and in brief terms the new rules and the opportunities for European business life caused by them. The book contains practical instructions as to which kind of constitution is most beneficial in different situations, just as the book includes comments on tax related consequences.