萬國法律事務所

The substantial overlapping of annual shareholders’ meetings being held on the same day has long been a problem that tended to undermine the interests of shareholders. In the past year, as many as 389 listed companies happened to schedule their shareholders’ meetings on the same day, and in 2008, more than 600 shareholders’ meetings of listed companies were held on the same day.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) recently announced a plan aiming to remedy this situation by way of limiting the number of annual shareholders’ meetings that can be held on the same day. All companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Gre Tai Securities Market are now required to follow the specific measures under this plan.

The measure requires advance online registration for annual shareholders’ meetings of listed companies and the daily number allowable is restricted to 200 only, excluding those with mail/electronic voting systems. No penalty will be imposed on a listed company if it fails to comply with the registration requirement, but the name of such company will be published.