* Monaco Introduces New Company FormatPrior to the new law Monaco had only three business forms. The SNC, and the SCS are effectively partnerships with unlimited liability for the partners, while the SAM is a limited liability company, but with fairly rigid operational constraints including a minimum share capital of E150,000.
The new legislation modifies the Civil Code, the Commercial Code, and various Sovereign Ordinances and Laws. The new SARL is intended to provide a limited liability vehicle to enable smaller entrepreneurs based in the Principality to operate more flexibly and at a lower cost. The minimum share capital to be fixed by sovereign order is expected to be E15,000.
Flexibility will be provided by an easier method of registration of corporate documents (cutting out the requirement for expensive notarial deeds), and by allowing only one director. The audit requirement which exists for the SAM will be extended to all corporate forms, but now depending on turnover, net assets, and number of employee, hence providing further regulatory control of the existing business forms.
The law also introduces a maximum delay of 3 months within which the government must respond to a request for authorisation for a new business.