Access Denied. Technical Problems in the Virtual Shareholder Meeting from a Dutch, German and Swiss Perspective

Abstract

Virtual shareholder meetings may be disrupted or even hampered by technical issues. How should the chair of the meeting deal with this? And what consequences should such issues have for resolutions affected by them? This article draws from Dutch, German and Swiss law to analyse these questions and to advise legislators around Europe when implementing (or courts applying) a regulatory framework regarding virtual-only shareholder meetings. It is argued that suspension of the meeting may soon be legitimate, whereas reforms of the law on defective resolutions are necessary to avoid the risk of null or voidable resolutions.