1. Member States shall ensure that the online formation of companies may be carried out fully online without the necessity for the applicants to appear in person before any authority or person or body mandated under national law to deal with any aspect of the online formation of companies, including drawing up the instrument of constitution of a company, subject to the provisions laid down in Article 13b(4) and paragraph (8) of this Article.

However, Member States may decide not to provide for online formation procedures for types of companies other than those listed in Annex IIA.

2. Member States shall lay down detailed rules for the online formation of companies, including rules on the use of templates as referred to in Article 13h, and on the documents and information required for the formation of a company. As part of those rules, Member States shall ensure that such online formation may be carried out by submitting documents or information in electronic form, including electronic copies of the documents and information referred to in Article 16a(4).