ARTICLE
20 October 2015

European Parliament Adopts Amendments To Proposed Shareholder Rights Directive

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A&O Shearman

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On 8 July 2015, the European Parliament resolved to adopt amendments to the European Commission's proposal to amend the Shareholder Rights Directive.
European Union Corporate/Commercial Law

On 8 July 2015, the European Parliament resolved to adopt amendments to the European Commission's proposal to amend the Shareholder Rights Directive. The amendments introduce:

  • an obligation for multinational companies to declare the taxes paid in each country in which they operate as a measure to tackle tax evasion and avoidance;
  • a requirement for shareholders of listed companies to vote at least every three years on a company's remuneration policy for directors, and for companies to explain how the directors' remuneration policy advances the long-term interest of the company;
  • an expansion and clarification regarding transparency for proxy advisors, including disclosure of their codes of conduct, policies and amount of research undertaken; and
  • provisions in the Accounting Directive for large undertakings and public-interest entities and the Transparency Directive, requiring issuers to publicly disclose a range of information on a country by country basis.

The full text of the adopted amendments is available here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2015-0257+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN

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