The European Parliament in Brussels recently hosted the forum focused on the Digital Transformation of Business Enterprises and Legal Security, held under the parliament’s auspices last Tuesday. Juan Fernando López Aguilar, chair of the Civil Rights, Justice and Home Affairs Commission, organized the event with Registrars of Spain, Here is Europe, and Channel Europe. The discussion explored how trade registers can support digitalization while ensuring legal certainty and preventing anyone from being left behind.
Spain’s digitization of its Business Registers, which began in response to the pandemic but has deeper roots, has long attracted attention from national and European authorities. Brussels became a focal point as the European Commission proposed the Companies Act directive on digital transformation and the creation of commercial companies across the EU. The goal is to enable business activity across the European single market by making optimal use of digital tools.
Jesús González Mateos, director of Aquí Europa and Canal Europa, led the conference and underscored the need to discuss the major technological shifts since the European Commission launched the Digital Decade program nearly three years ago, along with the key challenges facing companies and registries today.
The session opened by Mª Emilia Adán García, dean of the Spanish Registry College, recalled the public service role of registries and their guarantee that the entire legal life of companies revolves around the Trade Registry. In her remarks, she emphasized that the Trade Registry is among the most important pillars of European and national regulation of commercial entities, facilitating commercial activity and providing legal security through the legality checks carried out by registry officers.
Adán argued that digitalization should not compromise service quality. She urged continued trust in legal certainty, interconnection, and the digitization of corporate life. She also noted that the European legislator has the authority and interest to harmonize company law as a means to unify the European internal market and to support the freedom of establishment for commercial entities, warning that standards should not be lowered in the name of harmonization because society demands ever-higher levels of legal certainty.
The General Manager of the European Commission Legal Service, Daniel Calleja, highlighted the need to adapt law to a Europe in motion and evolution. He pointed out that one of the Community Manager’s challenges is to boost digital skills so that at least 80% of the population can participate in the digital economy.
the importance of digitalization
Digitalization remains a central objective for the Commission. It aims to regulate this process so the single market can grow, and European companies can compete more effectively. A coherent European regulation would set a global framework aligned with shared values, yet much work remains to be done to preserve the legal certainty that underpins Business Registers.
Calleja affirmed that Europe can advance with confidence if the regulatory framework is adapted to the needs of the registries. He also pointed to ambitious reforms for digital tools aimed at increasing transparency, easing access to information, strengthening competitiveness, and removing unnecessary administrative barriers. He emphasized the EU’s goal of simplifying company certification and reducing translation burdens where possible.
Ana del Valle, board member of the European Trade Registry Association, argued that the association has fully digitized the registry processes and noted that Trade Registries are advancing both the BRIS system and full European directive implementation. She highlighted the challenges posed by digitization but stressed that the quality work of registries will drive improvements in digital processes.
discussion table
The core of the forum was the discussion table featuring Ana Gallego Torres, the European Commission Director-General for Justice and Consumers; Lola Villas, coordination adviser to Justice of Spain’s Permanent Representation to the EU; and Members of the European Parliament Juan Fernando López Aguilar and Juan Ignacio Zoido, who chair and participate in the Civil Rights, Justice and Home Affairs Committee respectively.
Enrique Maside Páramo, a member of European Affairs for the Spanish Registrar’s College, closed the conference. He summarized the conclusions that emerged from the forum, emphasizing the need to blend legal certainty with digitization, to uphold the quality of registries, and to reinforce the registry legality checks as a preventive mechanism. [Citation: European Parliament]