In both Belgium and the Netherlands, legislation has recently entered into effect implementing Directive 2005/56/EC of 26 October 2005 on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies (the Merger Directive). In Luxembourg, the implementation process is underway; a bill for this purpose is currently before the Luxembourg Parliament.

The Merger Directive is intended to facilitate cross-border mergers in the EU by laying down common rules for mergers between limited liability companies from different Member States.