Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation

The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world for more than a year, with the infection and death numbers both on the rise. Taiwan is one of the few that have successfully kept the pandemic largely at bay. However, a few local infection cases have been reported in Taiwan recently, suggesting it’s not time to lower the guard yet.

As the peak season of shareholder meetings arrivd, a lot of publicly-listed companies will convene their annual shareholder meetings in May and June. To ensure that shareholder meetings go ahead as scheduled but not create a breach to pandemic control, the Financial Supervisory Commission asked TDCC to formulate “Operating Guidelines for Pandemic Prevention at Shareholder Meetings” in 2020. The guidelines are subject to rolling reviews and revisions, and the latest version 3.0 was released on April 20, 2020.

The guidelines suggest that shareholders who are present at a general meeting should wear a surgical mask at all time and have their body temperatures taken. Organizers should arrange disinfection at the meeting venue beforehand, maintain good ventilation, adopt a crisscross seating pattern and provide clear signage for traffic flows. Shareholders who refuse to wear a surgical mask or whose forehead/ear temperature is above 37.5/38 degrees Celsius in two consecutive readings will be refused entry into the meeting venue. Senior Vice President Chen Tzu-Ting of TDCC said companies that are holding shareholder meetings in 2021 should follow the 3.0 guidelines and specify the precautionary rules and measures on their meeting notices.

Given continuous advancement of internet technologies, online stock trading is becoming more common to investors and the number of shareholders participating in annual general meetings via e-voting has also been rising. As the pandemic seems unlikely to end anytime soon, TDCC urges investors to vote online instead of attending physical meetings in person to lower the risk of being infected while exercising their rights as shareholders at the same time.

Disease Prevention Operating Guideline for Shareholder Meetings 3.0