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The 28th regime timeline
Live timeline of the EU 28th regime for innovative companies (EU Inc.), with sources and the next political and legislative milestones.
Last updated: 9 August 2026
Commission publishes 28th regime proposal
The legal text, communication, annex, factsheet, and impact assessment enter the legislative process.
European Council backs the file
EU leaders endorse the "One Europe, One Market" agenda and call for adoption by the end of 2026.
First minister-level debate
COMPET ministers keep momentum behind the 28th regime, while safeguards, legal certainty, and labour rules remain open.
Council work continues, the JURI draft lands
Sessions 8 and 9 were held on 17 and 25 June; the rapporteur's draft report followed, dated 29 June (PE790.143v02-00, 246 amendments).
Positions form across Parliament, Council and advisory bodies
JURI debated the draft on 15 July and the amendment window closed on 17 July; the consolidated amendments are still not public. ECON and the EESC adopted opinions on 15 July. Council Session 12 met on 23 July and examined Presidency compromise text ST 11829/26; no readout has been published and the text remains access-restricted.
Summer recess: no scheduled institutional activity
Neither co-legislator meets on this file in August. Nothing has been published from the 23 July Council session, and the JURI amendments remain unpublished. Work resumes in the first week of September.
Both tracks restart, with the busiest Council month so far
JURI takes up the amendments on 7 September, with its committee vote expected later that month. The Council Working Party has four sessions confirmed: 1, 10, 17 and 29 September. Ministers are provisionally listed for a further policy debate on 24 September.
Parliament mandate vote comes into view
The procedure file carries 5 October as an indicative plenary sitting date for the first reading; it is a forecast, not a confirmed vote. A fifth Council Working Party session is scheduled for 8 October.
Political target: final agreement
Final law is not in force yet. Agreement remains subject to Council, Parliament, and trilogue negotiation. The proposal's main rules would apply 12 months after entry into force, so the operational date depends on final adoption and publication.
The EU Commission published its proposal on 18 March 2026. Now two things happen in parallel: a Council track and a Parliament track. For the plain-language explainer of JURI, the rapporteur, and trilogue, see JURI, rapporteur, and trilogue.
In the Council (where EU governments negotiate), specialised working groups of civil servants meet regularly to examine the proposal in detail. Session 6 of the Working Party on Company Law opened on 2 June at the Justus Lipsius Building, the first post-COMPET technical session, and Session 7 followed on 11 June at the Europa Building (agenda CM 3040/26), reaching the formation and governance chapter (Articles 35 to 58) with Parliament's Employment Committee (EMPL) present; no public readout from Sessions 1–9 has appeared on the Council register. The proposal has also reached the ministerial layer: on 28 May, COMPET ministers held the first minister-level policy debate on EU Inc. The public readout signalled momentum, not agreement on text, and left safeguards, legal certainty, national labour rules, insolvency, tax, minimum capital, and the Article 114 TFEU legal-basis question as negotiation points. Sessions 10 and 11 met on 2 and 8 July. Coreper discussed "guidance for further work" on 15 July (ST 11522/26), but no public outcome is available. Session 12 met on 23 July and examined the Irish Presidency compromise text (ST 11829/26), the first Presidency alternative text on the file; the document is registered but access-restricted, and no readout from the session has been published. Technical work resumes after the summer break with four further Working Party sessions confirmed for 1, 10, 17 and 29 September, and a fifth on 8 October. The Council's second-half planning document (ST 10983/26) provisionally lists another ministerial policy debate for 24 September.
In the Parliament (where elected MEPs negotiate), the proposal is still in the preparatory phase for procedure 2026/0074(COD). JURI examined the file on 4 May, when Commissioner McGrath presented the proposal directly to MEPs. René Repasi (S&D, Germany) was appointed rapporteur on 23 April 2026, and the committee referral was announced in plenary on 18 May. The Parliament calendar runs: draft report dated 29 June (PE790.143v02-00), consideration of the draft on 15 July, amendment deadline 17 July, consideration of amendments on 7 September, JURI committee vote in September (tbc), plenary indicatively forecast for 5 October. Opinion committees are ECON, with Aurore Lalucq, and EMPL, with Johan Danielsson; BUDG declined to give an opinion. ECON adopted its opinion on 15 July. EMPL's draft opinion and amendments are public, but final adoption is not yet verified. The procedure file now lists eight shadow rapporteurs across the seven political groups: Axel Voss (EPP), Pascale Piera (PfE), Mario Mantovani (ECR), Pascal Canfin (Renew), Kira Marie Peter-Hansen and Sergey Lagodinsky (both Greens/EFA), Arash Saeidi (The Left), and Marcin Sypniewski (ESN). Greens/EFA is the only group carrying two names; no appointment date is shown for either, so it is not yet clear from the file whether this is a co-shadow arrangement or a handover. If you only want the short version of who does what, start with What is JURI? and who the rapporteur is.
In the advisory bodies, the EESC adopted its mandatory opinion on 15 July 2026 (INT/1123-EESC-00744-00-00-AC), following the formal consultation triggered by CM 2668/26 on 29 April. The opinion is separate from the 21 April EESC Workers' Group and ETUC conference. The Committee of the Regions adopted its opinion on the EU Inc. corporate legal framework (CDR-1414-2026), with Roberta Angelilli (ECR, Lazio) as rapporteur, on 2 July 2026.
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1 September to 8 October 2026 - Council Working Party on Company Law, five sessions scheduled
The Council's technical track restarts after the summer with the densest run of sessions on this file so far: 1 September (10:00, Europa building), 10 September (10:00, Justus Lipsius), 17 September (10:00, Europa building), 29 September (10:00, LEX building) and 8 October (10:00, Justus Lipsius). No agenda document has been published for any of them yet, so it is not known which chapters each session will take, or whether a revised Presidency compromise text will be tabled.
Source: Council meeting pages for the Working Party on Company Law, 1 September, 10 September, 17 September, 29 September, 8 October
5 October 2026 (indicative) - European Parliament plenary vote on the negotiating mandate
The procedure file's forecast section carries 5 October 2026 as an indicative plenary sitting date for the first reading. That is a scheduling forecast, not a confirmed vote: indicative dates move routinely, and no committee vote has been scheduled on the file yet either.
Source: OEIL procedure file 2026/0074(COD), Forecasts section
September 2026 (tbc) - JURI vote in committee on Parliament's negotiating mandate
Committee vote marked as September (tbc). Candidate JURI meeting dates 7 and 28 September.
24 September 2026 - Competitiveness Council - further policy debate provisionally listed
The Council's second-half planning document, ST 10983/26, lists a policy debate on the 28th-regime regulation. This is a provisional ministerial milestone, not a fixed agreement date.
7 September 2026 - JURI consideration of amendments
Working session at which Repasi and the shadow rapporteurs read through the amendments filed by 17 July, ahead of the September committee vote.
2 and 15 July 2026 - CoR and EESC advisory opinions adopted
The Committee of the Regions adopted opinion CDR-1414-2026 on 2 July. The EESC followed on 15 July with its mandatory opinion INT/1123-EESC-00744-00-00-AC. Both inform the co-legislators but do not decide the file.
15–17 July 2026 - ECON opinion delivered; JURI amendment window closes
ECON delivered its opinion in the form of a letter on 15 July (PE788.878, adopted 34 to 13 with 9 abstentions, ECON Chair Aurore Lalucq). It backs the proposal as a first step but asks JURI to go further on two points in particular. First, let EU Inc companies access public markets (multilateral trading facilities and regulated markets), which runs against the draft report's ban on public listing. Second, add an optional tax module (opt-in, or enhanced cooperation as a last resort) with a single consolidated tax base, centralised VAT and withholding, and mandatory employee stock options taxed on disposal as capital income. The JURI deadline for shadow rapporteurs and any committee member to file amendments passed on 17 July. The amendment texts are not public yet; JURI takes them up on 7 September. EMPL's draft opinion and amendments are public, but final adoption is not yet verified.
15 July 2026 - JURI debates the draft report
The Legal Affairs Committee considered rapporteur René Repasi's draft report (PE790.143v02-00, dated 29 June) in a single sitting. Repasi framed his changes as guardrails on a fast highway: keep two-working-day, EUR 100 digital formation, but add preventive anti-money-laundering checks, protect labour law and co-determination (applied by the place of employment), keep employee equity as a top-up rather than a wage substitute, add an optional steward-owned variant, and build a Delaware-style dispute mechanism. The groups then divided, mostly on how far the form should reach.
Scope: the EPP (Axel Voss) and ECR (Mario Mantovani) argued the 28th regime must stay open to all companies, with no sector exclusions; the rapporteur and the Patriots for Europe shadow (via Tom Diepeveen) want it limited to innovative start-ups.
Legal basis: the EPP wants it kept as a regulation on Article 114; the Patriots read it as clearly Article 50; the rapporteur is open to an Article 50 plus 114 directive if the Council moves that way.
Listing and labour: Renew (Pascal Canfin's remarks, read on his behalf) questioned both the public-listing ban and applying one country's co-determination rules across borders; the Greens (Kira Marie Peter-Hansen) backed the safeguards and excluding listed companies; The Left (Saeidi) weighed the impact assessment's projected gain against the risk of fraud.
The amendment window closed on 17 July, but the consolidated package is not public yet. JURI takes the amendments up on 7 September. A group-by-group breakdown of where each group stands went to subscribers in our 23 July issue. Subscribe for the next one.
Source: the 15 July JURI debate (European Parliament webstream). No official readout was published; this reflects the public debate, not a formal committee conclusion.
2, 8, 15, and 23 July 2026 - Council work moves from examination to a Presidency text
Sessions 10 and 11 met on 2 and 8 July. Coreper discussed "guidance for further work" on 15 July (ST 11522/26), but neither the note's substance nor a public outcome is available. Session 12 met on 23 July and examined Presidency compromise text ST 11829/26. The register identifies the document as the first Presidency compromise text, dated 17 July, but withholds its content; access can be requested from the Council. No readout, outcome note, or summary record from the session has been published.
Sources: 2 July meeting page - 8 July meeting page - Coreper guidance note metadata, ST 11522/26 - 23 July revised agenda, CM 3679/1/26 REV 1
29 June 2026 - JURI draft report dated (PE790.143v02-00)
Rapporteur René Repasi's draft report on the Commission proposal: 151 pages, 246 amendments, the rapporteur's opening rewrite. Among the changes proposed: Article 4 deleted and replaced by a labour-law firewall and designated national gap-filler forms (Article 1a), a numeric startup definition plus a list of excluded sectors (Annex Ia), a ban on trading the shares on public venues (Article 60), a steward-owned variant (EU Inc. SO) and an employee stock ownership plan (EU-ESOP). The report is now listed on the OEIL procedure file and in Parliament's JURI document register, where the current version carried is PE790.143v02-00. Full analysis: inside the European Parliament's draft report.
Source: draft report PR\1347416EN.docx, PE790.143v02-00 (29 June 2026) - OEIL procedure file 2026/0074(COD)
25 June 2026 - Working Party on Company Law - Session 9 held (unofficial count)
Held under the Cyprus Presidency, agenda CM-3330/26 (continued examination of doc. 7498/26 + ADD 1–6). The session ran one day before Repasi's expected JURI draft report, putting the Council and Parliament tracks in direct parallel. No public readout has appeared yet; a compound readout covering Sessions 6 through 9 (or 6 through 10) remains possible after Session 10 on 2 July.
Sources: 25 June meeting page - Council agenda CM 3330/26
17 June 2026 - Working Party on Company Law - Session 8 held (unofficial count)
Held at the Council Lex Building. Further technical examination; no public readout has appeared on the Council register yet. Public documents do not officially assign session numbers yet.
Source: 17 June meeting page
11 June 2026 - Working Party on Company Law - Session 7 held (unofficial count)
Held at the Europa Building. The agenda (CM 3040/26) covered continued examination of doc. 7498/26, reaching the chapters on formation and digital systems and on internal organisation (Articles 35 to 58), including governance and worker-participation provisions, with Parliament's Employment Committee (EMPL) present. That made this the first session to touch the codetermination and worker-board-representation questions several delegations and the labour-side bodies flagged after COMPET. No public readout has appeared yet.
Sources: 11 June meeting page - Council agenda CM 3040/26
2 June 2026 - Working Party on Company Law - Session 6 opened
Session 6 started at 10:00 CET at the Justus Lipsius Building in Brussels. Agenda item 2 is examination of doc. 7498/26 + ADD 1–6. No public readout has appeared yet.
Source: Council agenda CM 2921/26
28 May 2026 - COMPET ministerial Council - first minister-level debate held
Ministers held a policy debate on the 28th Regime Corporate Legal Framework: EU Inc. The Council readout was high-level: momentum toward continued work and the end-2026 target, but no agreement on text.
The debate also made the political price of speed visible. Many delegations pushed safeguards against fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering; some raised legal-certainty questions around legal basis, taxation, minimum capital, and insolvency; several highlighted respect for national labour rules. Cyprus Presidency chair Michael Damiano summarised the line publicly as "competitiveness and trust must go hand in hand".
Sources: Council main results - Provisional agenda CM 2753/26 - Presidency background brief ST 8598/26
18 May 2026 — Working Party on Company Law — Session 5 (held)
Single agenda item: examination of doc 7498/26 + ADD 1-6. No public readout published yet.
7 May 2026 — ECGI–Bocconi–LawFin academic workshop on EU Inc. (completed)
The workshop tested EU Inc.'s legal design across venture contracting, insolvency, political adoption, and targeted harmonisation.
Sources: ECGI workshop page · our editorial report
6–7 May 2026 — Working Party on Company Law — Session 4 (held)
Two-day session: Day 1 at the Europa Building, Day 2 at the Council Lex Building. No public readout has appeared yet.
4 May 2026 — JURI Committee — Commissioner McGrath presents EU Inc.
The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee examined the proposal. Commissioner McGrath presented COM(2026) 321. René Repasi (S&D, Germany) had already been appointed rapporteur on 23 April; the committee referral was later announced in plenary on 18 May.
Sources: JURI agenda · OEIL procedure file
17 and 27 April 2026 — Working Party on Company Law — Sessions 2 and 3 (held)
Technical examination continued across both sessions. No public readout, outcome note, or negotiating text has appeared yet.
23–26 March 2026 — First Council working-party discussions took place.
The Company Law working party (23 March) and the Internal Market working party (26 March) both took the EU Inc proposal for Commission presentation. No public outcome note is visible yet.
19–20 March 2026 — European Council endorses "One Europe, One Market" agenda
EU leaders launched the "One Europe, One Market" agenda and named the 28th regime for company law as a priority measure for 2026. The conclusions call on the co-legislators to adopt the regime by the end of 2026, on the basis of the Commission proposal of 18 March. António Costa confirmed at the post-summit press conference that timelines should be implemented by end of 2027 but mostly this year, in 2026. No new legal text, just political direction and deadlines.
Sources: European Council conclusions · Costa press conference
18 March 2026 — Commission publishes the EU Inc. / 28th-regime proposal package
The Commission has now published the EU Inc. package: the Communication “Towards a 28th regime for EU companies”, the Proposal for an EU Inc. corporate legal framework, the annex, factsheet, and the impact-assessment papers. This is the real shift from expectation to text: the debate can now move from timing to substance.
Early reading of the published text: EU Inc. is harmonised, but not fully centralised. Registration still runs through national register infrastructure / BRIS, the central digital register comes later, and specialised courts are optional. This is likely to become one of the main negotiation points.
EU Inc. document hub
Q&A on EU Inc.
European Council conclusions, 19 March 2026
24 Feb 2026 — FISC hearing: "Feasibility of a 28th tax regime"
Parliament's tax subcommittee held a public hearing on whether tax-policy elements (barrier removal, incentives, administrative coordination) could accompany the forthcoming EU-Inc / 28th-regime proposal. Hearing page with all submitted documents.
16 Feb 2026 — President von der Leyen “One Europe, One Market” roadmap
President von der Leyen describes a “One Europe, One Market” roadmap with five building blocks. The key insight: EU-Inc is being positioned as single-market infrastructure, not a startup perk. That’s why it’s bundled with simplification and digital. The EU is trying to remove friction that makes cross-border scaling feel like operating in 27 parallel systems.
20 Jan 2026 — Parliament adopts recommendations (major milestone)
The European Parliament adopted its resolution with recommendations to the Commission on the 28th regime (procedure 2025/2079(INL)). This resolution now formally feeds into the Commission’s drafting work.
16 Jan 2026 — Parliament previews priorities ahead of the plenary vote
Parliament’s press materials outlined priorities for a new legal framework (incl. fast digital formation and cross-border recognition), ahead of the vote. The link is here.
30 Sep 2025 — Stakeholder consultation closed
The Parliament’s Legislative Train file notes the stakeholder consultation concluded on 30 September 2025.
The Commission's EU Inc. proposal is built on Article 114 TFEU, which does not itself harmonise tax. On 16 April 2026, Parliament's Subcommittee on Tax Matters opened a parallel workstream examining whether a 28th tax regime could complement the company-law proposal.
That does not change the legal basis of the current Regulation, but it is the clearest institutional signal so far that the tax gap is being considered separately. On 3 June 2026, the ECON committee formally adopted the Ódor draft report on tax regime feasibility (36 votes to 18, with 2 abstentions; document ECON-PR-785418). The report then went to the full Parliament, which adopted it on 9 July 2026 by 366 votes to 192, with 39 abstentions (adopted text A-10-2026-0167). It is a non-binding own-initiative report and does not change the legal basis of the company-law proposal.