On 29 March 2021, ASIC provided information concerning its no-action position in relation to (amongst other things) the holding of a virtual meeting and use of electronic means to distribute the notice of meeting and associated meeting materials.
This position attempts to provide the market with a degree of certainty by:
- supporting the holding of meetings using appropriate technology;
- facilitating electronic notices of meetings including supplementary notices; and
- extending the timeframe for public companies to hold their AGMs for an additional 2 months.
This follows on from the expiry on 21 March 2021 of temporary modifications to the Corporations Act (Act) under the Corporations (Coronavirus Economic Response) Determination (No. 3) 2020 and the failure of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No 1) Bill 2021, to be approved by Parliament.
It should be noted the no-action position adopted by ASIC only applies until the earlier of:
- 31st October 2021; or
- the date any measures are passed by Parliament relating to the use of virtual technology in meetings of companies and managed investment schemes.
ASIC has re-issued its guidelines around investor meetings using technology. You can access the guidelines here.
BoardRoom is here to help you with all Meeting Services including virtual, hybrid and physical solutions. During the 2020 AGM season, BoardRoom successfully delivered over 390 meetings, with 193 being virtual, 2 hybrid and 197 physical meetings. Download a copy of our 2020 AGM Summary paper here for further insights and trends on the 2020 AGM season.
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