The European Business Council in Japan issued an annual white paper on the nation's business environment Thursday that recommends changing an article in the revised corporation law it fears could make the structure of some European companies here illegal.

The EBC wants Tokyo to amend Article 821 of the revised corporation law that bans so-called pseudo-foreign companies, because it could undermine the Japanese operations of foreign firms.

It said the amended article particularly will affect financial institutions, which have been forced to split their businesses here, typically into one unit for banking and another for brokerage operations.