European Commission send Czech Republic and Latvia request to withdraw rules infringing freedom of establishment

This is not entirely about company law but interesting none the less to note one of the exceptions available to Member States in regards to freedom of establishment rules which prohibit it.

Under the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Chapter 2 Article 49 provides for Freedom of Establishment in the European Union (EU). It prohibits restrictions on nationals of the EU setting up companies (see Art 54), branches, agencies and subsidiaries in other Member States. It includes the right to take up and pursue activities as a self-employed person.

Article 51 does allow States to disregard this section though, 'so far as an given Member State is concerned, to activities which in that State are connected, even occasionally, with the exercise of official authority'.

The Czech Republic and Latvia had certain restrictions relating to notaries and argued that they had judicial powers bringing them within this exception. The EC maintain that despite this, their notaries do not have the power to rule on disputes. The Commission took the view that such participation in public authority did not justify their nationality requirement. See the note from the EU about this action as well as their main decisions from November here.