"Legal Regulation and Empirical Evidence on the Disclosure of Related-Party Transactions: A Comparative Analysis of Cyprus, Belgium, Poland and the EU"
Location:
Online only
Date/time
Mon 12 October 2026
14:00 - 15:00
About the Event: This session is part of a research presentation series hosted by Edinburgh Commercial Law PGR Reading Group (CLRG). CLRG organises and hosts research presentations by and for group members, academic staff, visiting scholars, and guest speakers working in the broad field of commercial law.
Each session features a 30-minute presentation, followed by open discussion and a Q&A session. The series provides a supportive and informal environment for researchers, including postgraduate researchers, as well as academic staff, visiting scholars, and practitioners to develop their research and presentation skills, share ideas and experiences, receive constructive feedback, and engage with others working in the field.
The group also provides opportunities to build academic and professional networks and broaden knowledge of current developments in commercial law.
Abstract: The disclosure of related-party transactions (RPTs) is a key component of the corporate governance framework, designed to enhance transparency and protect shareholders from potential conflicts of interest and abusive transactions. At the EU level, the 2017 Shareholder Rights Directive II introduced harmonised requirements for listed companies to obtain approval for and disclose significant RPTs, while Member States retain considerable discretion to implement and supplement these requirements through their national legal frameworks. This has led to significant differences in the scope, content, and practical operation of RPT disclosure regimes across EU jurisdictions.
This study examines the regulation and practical operation of RPT disclosure in Cyprus, Belgium and Poland, situating the national frameworks within the broader context of EU company law. It combines a comparative legal analysis of applicable EU and national rules with empirical evidence on listed companies' disclosure practices and stakeholders' perceptions, including those of legal and compliance professionals. The study assesses the extent to which existing disclosure requirements provide meaningful transparency regarding RPTs and identifies similarities, divergences and potential gaps across the jurisdictions examined. By integrating doctrinal and empirical perspectives, the research seeks to contribute to the broader debate on the effectiveness and harmonisation of RPT regulation in the EU and to identify possible directions for future regulatory reform.
Speaker: Dr Ivan Romashchenko, is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie YUFE4 Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cyprus. He holds a PhD in Law from Leiden University (the Netherlands). He has served as a lecturer at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine), a Senior Researcher at Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania), and a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (Italy). His research focuses on two main themes: the use of technology in company law and related-party transactions.