The ÖNK "Legal Lunch"-discussion format kicked off the new year with the topic “EU Business Wallets – a game changer?”. The urgency and relevance of the topic was evident not only in the high number of participants – including representatives from the Commission, the Permanent Representation of Austria, the Austrian federal state representations, and the corporate, SME, and start-up scene – but also in the intensive discussions on the detailed design and functioning of the planned EU business wallets.

The proposal outlines the idea for a digital solution - wallets - concerning relevant business transactions and communication (B2B, B2G, G2G). The concept of EU business wallets was outlined at the Legal Lunch by Christiane Kirketerp de Viron (Director for Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy at the Commission) and her colleague Maria Christofidou. The subsequent discussion reflected certain questions in terms of concrete implementation, particularly with regard to legal certainty, data protection and cybersecurity, identification and authenticiation with the associated need for verification, as well as the right of representation and the validity of contracts concluded via EU business wallets.

One point was made very clear by all sides: digitisation and streamlining of business-related transactions can only work well when maintaining existing formal and procedural requirements, as legal certainty is an essential location factor and a basic prerequisite for the competitiveness of the EU. Providing companies with the best possible support in this regard is a key concern of the Austrian notarial profession.

The second event in the framework of the European SME Week at the European Parliament in Brussels was held under the motto “Partners for growth – notaries and SMEs in a competitive Europe”, where experts discussed issues relating to European company law and the planned 28th regime. 

Member of the European Parliament Lukas Mandl (ÖVP) hosted the event. Following a keynote speech by notary and professor of company law Corrado Malberti, a high-level panel consisting of Greta Koch (assistant to Member of the European Parliament Axel Voss), Eszter Batta (representative of the European Commission, SME Department, DG GROW), Dr. Roland Gintenreiter (Vice President of ÖNK), Sophia Zakari (Director of Enterprise and Legal Policy at SMEunited), and Isabelle Schömann (Secretary General at ETUC) discussed key topics such as the choice of legal basis (directive vs. regulation), the proposal for a uniform EU-wide company register or a possible further development of the BRIS, the issue of split headquarters, and potential negative effects on labor and tax law.