The State of Liechtenstein is the sole or partial owner of several public enterprises and institutions. In order to exercise supervision of these companies in accordance with modern criteria, the Government believes that a harmonization of the management structure is necessary. A framework law will henceforth lay down valid regulations for all public enterprises.
Liechtenstein Power, Liechtenstein Gas, the Liechtenstein Broadcasting Service, and Liechtenstein Tourism are all owned by the State of Liechtenstein. The State holds 54% of the Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG and 75% of the Liechtenstein Postal Service. A total of 25 different enterprises and institutions have been founded by the State as public enterprises and are subject to supervision by State authorities. The State of Liechtenstein can thus be compared to a conglomerate in which the Government exercises conglomerate management authority. However, the structures of the individual enterprises differ considerably. The Government therefore plans to harmonize the management and supervision of the individual enterprises by enacting a general framework law and adjusting specialized legislation passed for each enterprise.
The Framework Law on the Steering and Monitoring of Public Enterprises will govern the powers of the State of Liechtenstein to influence the steering and monitoring of public enterprises. The law specifies the overall supervision by the Government of the corporate bodies, institutes, and foundations under public law, as required by the Constitution. According to Prime Minister Otmar Hasler, the new regulation pursues two goals: "First, we want to design these institutions according to modern, widespread principles of corporate management, to the extent they have not already instituted these principles themselves. Second, we intend to structure all institutions in the same way, to the extent possible, with respect to management and supervision, business activities, and monitoring." The regulations are comparable to rules applicable to private-sector companies with a strategic and an operational management.
The Government views the owner's strategy (or the holding strategy in the case of enterprises with majority shareholdings by the State) as the most important steering element in the future: "By setting out medium-term objectives, the Government is able to orient the public enterprise toward the public interest associated with its purpose, and to establish targets in consultation with the management bodies concerning the most important areas of operation." Henceforth, the Government will thus set out an owner's strategy in consultation with the strategic management level of each public enterprise. The enterprise strategy will be derived from this owner's strategy, and implementation of the enterprise strategy can be verified by the Government using the controlling process.
Complementing the introduction of the framework law and the modification of the specialized legislation, a "Code" for good corporate governance of public enterprises will also be drafted, which will not be binding on the enterprises and institutions, however. The topics covered by these advisory guidelines include periodic self-evaluation, certification, succession planning, and corporate body liability insurance. Over a hundred regulations currently exist for companies listed on the stock market, so-called codes of best practice for corporate governance. Since such regulations are only now emerging for public enterprises, the Government decided it would not make sense for Liechtenstein to adopt any existing codes. The development of Liechtenstein's own guidelines met with an enthusiastic response from the consulted foreign authorities. The Government concludes that the project "Steering and Monitoring of Public Enterprises" can make a positive contribution to Liechtenstein's image in nearby countries.
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