Coronavirus - Government measures in key jurisdictions - Flipbook - Page 58
Japan
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Company
law matters
General Meetings
•
Have any measures •
been put in place
to accommodate
social distancing
•
(such as remote
general meetings)?
On 26 February 2020, METI issued a guideline for hybrid virtual general meetings.
Although the guideline did not originally target the COVID-19 pandemic, it is attracting
attention from companies seeking to accommodate social distancing for the peak
season for annual general meetings in the coming June.
It is impossible under the Corporate Code to conduct a purely virtual general meeting.
However, the following measures can be taken for social distancing:
– encourage shareholders not to attend the general meeting but to vote in advance (by
a voting paper or online),
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– limit the number of attending shareholders, require pre-registration to attend, and
reject attendance by shareholders with symptoms of COVID-19, and
– hold a hybrid virtual general meeting (i.e., a real meeting with online streaming)
pursuant to the METI guideline in order to allow remote attendees to participate in
the meeting.
Board Meetings
•
The Corporate Code doesn’t require a company to hold a physical board meeting;
an online meeting and/or a resolution in writing are commonly used by Japanese
companies.
Remote Working
•
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Although remote working is not yet well developed in Japan, the Japanese government
has been encouraging remote working in light of COVID-19. There are subsides for
business operators who will introduce or have introduced a remote working system,
especially for mid- or small-size businesses.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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