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Amendments

Title:

Company Act  CH

Amended Date: 2021.12.29 

Title: Company Act(2011.06.29)
Date:
Article 10 Under either of the following circumstances, the competent authority may, ex officio or upon an application filed by an interested party, order the dissolution of a company:
1. Where the company fails to commence its business operation after elapse of six months from the date of its company incorporation registration, unless it has made an extension registration; or
2. Where, after commencing its business operation, the company has discontinued, at its own discretion, its business operation for a period over six months, unless it has made the business discontinuation registration.
3. Where a final judgment has adjudicated to prohibit the company from using its company name, the company fails to make a name change registration after elapse of six months from the final judgment, and fails to make a name change registration after the competent authority has ordered the company to do so within a given time limit.
Article 156 The capital of a company limited by shares shall be divided into shares, and each share shall have the same par value. A portion of the shares may be designated as special shares, with the kind of such special shares to be specified in the Articles of Incorporation.
The total number of shares as classified under the preceding Paragraph may be issued in installments.
A company may, in pursuance of the resolution adopted by its board of directors, apply to the competent authority in charge of securities for an approval of public issuance of its shares. A company may apply for an approval of ceasing its status as a public company by a resolution adopted, at a shareholders' meeting, by a majority of the shareholders present who represent two-thirds or more of the total number of its outstanding shares.
In the event the total number of shares represented by the shareholders present at a shareholders' meeting of a company whose shares have been issued in public is less than the percentage of the total shareholdings required in the preceding Paragraph, the resolution may be adopted by two-third of the voting rights exercised by the shareholders present at the shareholders' meeting who represent a majority of the outstanding shares of the company.
A company whose shares have been issued in public has resolved, moved to an unknown place, or failed to perform the duties as a public company under the Securities and Exchange Act for causes not attributable to the company, the competent authority in charge of securities may cease its status as a public company.
In the case of a government owned company, the public issuance of its shares and the cease of its status as a public company shall require a special prior approval of the competent authority in charge of such enterprise.
Equity capital to be contributed other than cash by shareholders may be in the form of monetary credit extended to the company, or the technical know-how or good-will required by the company, provided, however, that the amount of such substitutive capital contribution shall require a prior approval of the board of directors, without being subject to the restriction set out in Article 272 hereof.
After its incorporation, the company may, pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority vote of a meeting of the board of directors attended by two-thirds or more of all the directors, issue new shares as the consideration payable by the company for its acquisition of the shares of another company, without being subject to the restrictions set out respectively in Paragraphs One through Three, Article 267 of this Act.
After its incorporation, for improving its financial structure or resuming its normal operation, the company participating in the special approval of the governmental bailout program may issue and transfer new shares to the government as the consideration for receiving governmental financial help. Such issuing procedure shall not be subject to the restrictions regarding issuance of new shares set forth in this Act and the regulations thereof shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.
In the case that the bailout program under the preceding paragraph reaches NTD 1 billion, the competent authority of the special approval and the company receiving such bailout shall report its self-help plan to the Legislative Yuan.
For shares to be issued at the same time and under the same conditions of issuance, the issuance price thereof shall be the same. The method to determine the issuance price for a company offering its shares to the public may be prescribed by the authority in charge of securities.
Article 158 All special shares issued by a company shall be redeemable, provided that the privileges accorded to special shareholders by the Articles of Incorporation shall not be impaired.
Article 167-3 A company which buys back its shares and assigns or transfers those shares to its employees in accordance with Article 167-1 or other laws may restrain such shares from being assigned or transferred to others within a specific period of time which shall in no case be longer than two years.
Article 168 A company shall not cancel its shares, unless a resolution on capital reduction has been adopted by its shareholders' meeting; and capital reduction shall be effected based on the percentage of shareholding of the shareholders pro rata, unless otherwise provided for in this Act or any other governing laws.
A company reducing its capital may return share prices (or the capital stock) to shareholders by properties other than cash; the returned property and the amount of such substitutive capital contribution shall require a prior approval of the shareholders’ meeting and obtain consents from the shareholders who receive such property.
The board of directors shall first have the value of such property and the amount of such substitutive capital contribution set forth in the preceding Paragraph audited and certified by a certified public accountant before the shareholders’ meeting.
Where a company cancels its shares in a manner in violation to the provisions set out in Paragraphs One to Three of this Article, the responsible person(s) of the company shall (each) be imposed with a fine in an amount not less than NT$ 20,000 but not more than NT$ 100,000.
Article 177 A shareholder may appoint a proxy to attend a shareholders' meeting in his/her/its behalf by executing a power of attorney printed by the company stating therein the scope of power authorized to the proxy.
Except for trust enterprises or stock agencies approved by the competent authority, when a person who acts as the proxy for two or more shareholders, the number of voting power represented by him/her shall not exceed 3% of the total number of voting shares of the company, otherwise, the portion of excessive voting power shall not be counted.
A shareholder may only execute one power of attorney and appoint one proxy only, and shall serve such written proxy to the company no later than 5 days prior to the meeting date of the shareholders' meeting. In case two or more written proxies are received from one shareholder, the first one received by the company shall prevail; unless an explicit statement to revoke the previous written proxy is made in the proxy which comes later.
After the service of the power of attorney of a proxy to the company, in case the shareholder issuing the said proxy intends to attend the shareholders' meeting in person or to exercise his/her/its voting power in writing or by way of electronic transmission , a proxy rescission notice shall be filed with the company two days prior to the date of the shareholders' meeting as scheduled in the shareholders' meeting notice so as to rescind the proxy at issue, otherwise, the voting power exercised by the authorized proxy at the meeting shall prevail.
Article 177-2 In case a shareholder elects to exercise his/her/its voting power in writing or by way of electronic transmission, his/her/its declaration of intention shall be served to the company two days prior to the scheduled meeting date of the shareholders' meeting, whereas if two or more declarations of the same intention are served to the company, the first declaration of such intention received shall prevail; unless an explicit statement to revoke the previous declaration is made in the declaration which comes later.
In case a shareholder who has exercised his/her/its voting power in writing or by way of electronic transmission intends to attend the shareholders' meeting in person, he/she/it shall, two days prior to the meeting date of the scheduled shareholders' meeting and in the same manner previously used in exercising his/her/its voting power, serve a separate declaration of intention to rescind his/her/its previous declaration of intention made in exercising the voting power under the preceding Paragraph Two. In the absence of a timely rescission of the previous declaration of intention, the voting power exercised in writing or by way of electronic transmission shall prevail.
In case a shareholder has exercised his/her/its voting power in writing or by way of electronic transmission, and has also authorized a proxy to attend the shareholders' meeting in his/her/its behalf, then the voting power exercised by the authorized proxy for the said shareholder shall prevail.
Article 183 Resolutions adopted at a shareholders' meeting shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, which shall be affixed with the signature or seal of the chairman of the meeting and shall be distributed to all shareholders of the company within twenty (20) days after the close of the meeting.
The preparation and distribution of the minutes of shareholders' meeting as required in the preceding Paragraph may be effected by means of electronic transmission.
With regard to a company offering its shares to the public, the distribution of the minutes of shareholders' meeting as required in Paragraph One of this Article may be effected by means of a public notice.
The minutes of shareholders' meeting shall record the date and place of the meeting, the name of the chairman, the method of adopting resolutions, and a summary of the essential points of the proceedings and the results of the meeting. The minutes shall be kept persistently throughout the life of the company.
The attendance list bearing the signatures of shareholders present at the meeting and the powers of attorney of the proxies shall be kept by the company for a minimum period of at least one year. However, if a lawsuit has been instituted by any shareholder in accordance with the provisions of Article 189 hereof, the minutes of the shareholders' meeting involved shall be kept by the company until the legal proceedings of the foregoing lawsuit have been concluded.
The director authorized to represent the company who violates the provisions of Paragraph I, Paragraph IV or the preceding Paragraph of this Article shall be imposed with a fine of not less than NT$ 10,000 but not more than NT$ 50,000.
Article 204 In calling a meeting of the board of directors, a notice setting forth therein the subject(s) to be discussed at the meeting shall be given to each director and supervisor no later than 7 days prior to the scheduled meeting date. However, in the case of emergency, the meeting may be convened at any time.
The notice set forth in the preceding Paragraph may be effected by means of electronic transmission, after obtaining a prior consent from the recipient(s) thereof.
Article 230 The board of directors shall submit the various financial statements and records prepared by it to the general meeting of shareholders for its ratification; and after the ratification thereof by the general meeting of shareholders, shall distribute to each shareholder the copies of ratified financial statements and the resolutions on the surplus earning distribution and/or loss offsetting.
For a company offering its shares to the public, the distribution of the ratified financial statements and the resolutions on the surplus earning distribution and/or the loss offsetting set forth in the preceding Paragraph may be effected by way of a public notice.
Any creditor of the company may request the company to provide him the financial statements and records and the resolutions set forth in Paragraph I hereinabove or to allow him to make copies thereof.
The director authorized to represent the company who has violated the provisions of Paragraph I of this Article by failing to distribute the financial statement and records and the resolutions shall be imposed with a fine of not less than NT$ 10,000 but not more than NT$ 50,000.
Article 267 Unless otherwise approved specifically by the central authority in charge of the object enterprise, when a company issues new shares, there shall be ten to fifteen per cent of such new shares reserved for subscription by employees of the company.
When a government operated enterprise issues new shares, it may, after obtaining the special approval from the competent authority in charge of the said enterprise, reserve no more than ten per cent of such new shares for subscription by its employees.
In issuing new shares, a company shall make public announcement and advise, by notice, its original shareholders to subscribe for, with preemptive right, the new shares, except those reserved under either of the preceding two paragraphs, in proportion respectively to their original shareholding and shall state in the notice that if any shareholder fails to subscribe for new shares, his right shall be forfeited. Where a fractional percentage of the original shares being held by a shareholder is insufficient to subscribe for one new share, the fractional percentages of the original shares being held by several shareholders may be combined for joint subscription of one or more integral new shares or for subscription of new shares in the name of a single shareholder. New shares left unsubscribed by original shareholders may be open for public issuance or for subscription by specific person or persons through negotiation.
The right to subscription of new shares as provided for in the preceding three paragraphs, except those reserved for subscription by employees, may be separated from the rights in original shares and transferable independently.
The provisions provided in Paragraphs One and Two under this Article for reserving the right of subscribing new shares by employees shall not apply to the case where the new shares are distributed to original shareholders as dividend shares capitalized with the reserve fund or the value increments of assets.
A company may restrain the shares subscribed by its employees under Paragraph One or Paragraph Two of the article from being transferred or assigned to others within a specific period of time which shall in no case be longer than two years.
The provisions set out in this Article shall not apply to the company which is merged by or with another company, or is split up, or is under reorganization, or is issuing new shares in accordance with the provisions set out in Article 167-2, Article 262, or Paragraph I, Article 268-1 of this Act.
A company offering it’s shares to the public and issuing restricted stock for employees shall not apply Paragraphs One to Six of this Article and shall adopt such resolution, at a shareholders' meeting, by a majority of the shareholders present who represent two-thirds or more of the total number of its outstanding shares.
In the event the total number of shares represented by the shareholders present at a shareholders' meeting of a company is less than the percentage of the total shareholdings required in the preceding Paragraph, the resolution may be adopted by two-third of the voting rights exercised by the shareholders present at the shareholders' meeting who represent a majority of the outstanding shares of the company.
The competent authority in charge of securities shall prescribe rules governing the issuance amount, issuance price, issuance conditions and other matters for compliance for a company offering its shares to the public and issuing new shares in accordance with the preceding two Paragraphs.
The responsible person of a company violating the provisions of Paragraph I under this Article shall be subject to a fine of not less than NT$ 20,000 but not more than NT$ 100,000.