On April 3, the Ministry of Justice and Security announced emergency legislation to: “to solve practical problems resulting from the corona crisis.”

Part of this emergency legislation is that the board can determine that the general meeting can only be followed via livestream, with the condition that members and shareholders can submit questions during the meeting or in advance, which will be answered at the meeting itself at the latest.

Two things in particular stand out in the bill:

1. If a member or shareholder does not optimal has been able to participate in such a meeting, then the decisions taken are still legally valid; and
2. There appears to be room for the possibility that decisions taken at livestream meetings that have already been held may have been legally valid retroactively.

Based on this message, the question is how to deal with, for example:

• a poor (video) connection at potentially crucial moments in the general meeting; or
• disagreement about decisions at livestream meetings that have already been held where members or shareholders have not (properly) recorded that they agree with the method of decision-making;

The bill has now been submitted to the Council of State. The press release states that the text of the bill and the Council of State's advice will be made public upon submission to the House of Representatives.

The press release from the Dutch government can be found here: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2020/04/03/spoedwetgeving-op-het-terrein-van-justitie-en-veiligheid

To be continued.

credits: CC: Sofitel Dubai Downtown (source:flickr)