In response to issuance by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control of the “Suggested Gathering Limits and Social Distancing Guidelines for Indoor Activities,” the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation (TDCC) issued a set of “Disease Prevention Operation Guideline for Shareholder Meetings” on March 16, 2020, and then amended the Guidelines on April 9, 2020. The amended provisions expressly require shareholders to have their temperature taken and wear surgical masks at all times the meeting, and the board must arrange for seats to be placed over 1 meter apart (or set a vacant seat between two shareholders). Newly added provisions accordingly reduce the permissible number of staff inside the venue, and require that the registration must be kept at a proper distance from the shareholder meeting souvenir distribution site.

 

Also, in order to control COVID-19 spreading, the FSC (having obtained approval from the Central Epidemic Command Center on April 17, 2020) announced as follows on April 20, 2020: “Beginning from this date and continuing until dissolution of the Central Epidemic Command Center, when shareholders enter the venue of a public company''s shareholders meeting they must wear surgical masks and have their temperature taken. Any shareholder without surgical mask, or with forehead temperature of ≥37.5 °C or ear temperature of ≥38 °C measured twice, shall not be allowed entry into the shareholders meeting.” In coordination with this announcement the TDCC (working under FSC oversight) issued an amended version 3 of the aforementioned “Disease Prevention Operation Guideline for Shareholder Meetings” (from which the TDCC removed the previous requirement for public companies to set up an isolation room for people who have been found to have a fever). Public companies will be required to comply with these Guidelines and to plan out meeting place arrangements in advance to ensure that 2020 shareholder meetings proceed smoothly and without incident.

 

The FSC has called again that shareholders are advised to exercise their voting right in the form of electronic voting, and has asked companies to plan out meeting place arrangements in advance to ensure that 2020 shareholder meetings proceed smoothly without incident. In the future, the FSC will also join with the TDCC and shareholder services agents to review meeting procedures on a rolling basis.