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Since the introduction of the European Company Statute in October 2004, the number of SEs has increased steadily year by year (at almost exponential growth rates). As of 21 March 2014 the ETUI‘s European Company Database (ECDB) provides information on a total of 2,125 SEs. However, this rather impressive total should not blind observers to the fact that many SEs do not conform to the standard definition, for they are partly SEs without or with very few employees (‘empty/micro SEs’) and/or partly even without a specific business purpose. Less than one-seventh of the SEs today have been identified by the ECDB as having more than five employees (‘normal SEs’). In practice, however, the number of ‘normal SEs’ is likely to be significantly higher as a consequence of the persisting gap in employment information caused by the insufficient publication rules in the SE legislation.