alt Hacker NewsAs a Dutch person I never understood this push until someone told me (and this is true in 2026!!!) that if you open a LLC (Gmbh?) in Germany you have to physically go to the notary and have a person READ OUT all the statutes to you.
The whole process including banks accounts etc... can apparently take months in total.
Personally I would not create "EU-INC" but just make all local entities legal in every country. Then countries could compete to be the best system to attract companies and entrepreneurs.
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> you have to physically go to the notary and have a person READ OUT all the statutes to you.
I guess, you've never bought a house in the Netherlands then, because it's the same exact process
Looks like as per 2022 it is possible to register a GMBH in Germany fully online https://www.brak.de/newsroom/news/gmbh-und-ug-koennen-ab-1-a... also https://www.ihk.de/stuttgart/fuer-unternehmen/recht-und-steu... here are the online notaries: https://online.notar.de/
Firma.de estimates 6 weeks https://www.firma.de/en/company-formation/how-to-set-up-a-gm...
beglaubigt.de estimates 3 weeks https://beglaubigt.de/ug-gruenden
Holvi estimates 4 weeks https://blog.holvi.com/de/gmbh-oder-ug-gr%C3%BCnden-2025-abl...
> Personally I would not create "EU-INC" but just make all local entities legal in every country.
That’s basically already the case. You can incorporate in one member state and offer your services in another member state. That’s part of what the EU assures. Still, there are many reasons why it doesn’t make sense for people to incorporate in any random member state.
I'm surprised that Germany never relaxed the in-person notarization requirements during COVID. A lot of jurisdictions around the world did change their rules to allow remote notarization.
Same in the Netherlands for BV's. At least a few years ago, maybe it changed...
> Personally I would not create "EU-INC" but just make all local entities legal in every country. Then countries could compete to be the best system to attract companies and entrepreneurs.
Like the current downward spiral of US states competing who can have the lowest corporate tax while letting their infrastructure crumble? But hey, that's a long term thing and we don't think about those. Only which companies move to my state in the next year/quarter/month.
This is true of all contract notarization in Germany (even when buying a house, jesus that is a slog), and although it is a bendy-banana level silly thing that people focus on, isn't actually the biggest problem in company founding here. MUCH more problematic is unfavorable tax rules making equity compensation difficult, capital requirements, legal/notary fees, and an investor class that is notoriously skittish.
If you could solve all those problems and still had to go listen to the Notar recite the contract in a monotone, it would be a worth trade.