Drafting the articles: setting your company's rules of the game

Whatever the country, articles cover a common base of clauses, adapted to the legal form:

• Identification: name, legal form, registered office, duration.
• Corporate purpose: the company's activity, worded neither too broadly nor too narrowly.
• Capital: amount, contributions (cash, in kind), distribution among partners.
• Management or direction: appointment, powers, term of office.
• Operating rules: meetings, decisions, share transfers, partner exits.

Certain clauses (approval, pre-emption, exit) protect the partners and deserve particular attention.

Articles drafting is governed differently depending on the country. In some member states, a notarised deed is mandatory for certain forms (for example the GmbH in Germany); elsewhere, a private deed is enough.

Mandatory clauses, minimum capital and filing formalities also differ. The draft articles must therefore comply with the law of your country of registration.

The module guides you section by section and assembles structured draft articles from your answers on the form, capital, partners and governance.

It flags choices that deserve thought (approval clauses, division of powers) without inventing anything: when a specific local requirement is not reliably available, we say so and point to official sources.

To explore the module and its access conditions, see the Solutions IA page and the pricing page.

Once the articles are ready, they often come with other acts: minutes of the constitutive meeting, capital deposit, registration formalities specific to your country.

The meeting-minutes module naturally complements the articles drafter. To prepare the entire creation file, the Pro journey brings these steps together.