A Tailor-made Legal Form for Social Enterprises in the Netherlands is on Its Way

Abstract

This article discusses the question how a social enterprise can best be recognised by customers, financiers, contract partners, the government and other stakeholders. Many EU Member States provide tailor-made legal forms for social enterprises. This enhances their recognition in the market. Dutch corporate law does not offer such a legal facility to social enterprises. Hence, in the Netherlands, social enterprises employ for their activities regular company legal forms such as the BV form (limited liability company) or the nonprofit legal form of the foundation, or a combination of both legal forms. Various network organisations and self-regulatory initiatives have emerged in order to support social enterprises in their development and in being acknowledged as such. Nonetheless, social enterprises have indicated that this is insufficient and that a tailor-made legal form is desired in the Netherlands. The Dutch government has initiated a study to find out what would be the best format and what should be the core elements thereof. In this article, the research questions, the methodology and the findings of this study are presented, as well as the decisions of the government taken on the basis of this study. social enterprises, legal enterprise forms, societal purpose, B corps, purpose companies, Netherlands, corporate law