Legal issues pertaining to groups of companies time after time appear on the regulatory agenda of the European Union in the field of company law. The author has taken the opportunity provided by the introduction of new Italian regulations for groups of companies in 2004, and suggested actions, especially the ones included in the Action Plan of the European Commission, to compare fundamental issues of company law regarding groups both in Italian and German law with European perspectives. The Italian approach is used to identify the aspects which could turn out to be problematic in searching for European core provisions of company law addressed to groups. The - various - legal criteria determining the existence of a group or of group relations, information provisions both in internal relationships inside the group and in external relationships with third parties, sound management of the group, and regulatory issues regarding the formation of group relationships are compared by using a functional approach. The study is going through these questions also with regard to other fields of law, such as accounting legislation, information provisions of capital market law, and take over law. Additionally, the historical development as well as the actual shareholder structure and the enterprise landscape are covered by the study. The results of this broad approach represent a valuable contribution to the analysis of the regulation of groups of companies in the member states of the European Union.
