A lifeguard in times of pandemic: Electronic general meetings in joint stock companies

The general meetings of joint stock companies are mandatory and a platform established by law for shareholders, directors and other stakeholders in these companies to make decisions, share information and opinions to move the company forward. These meetings of joint stock companies were also affected from COVID-19 outbreak measures. Within this framework, the general meetings of joint stock companies planned to be held during the pandemic have been postponed or held electronically within the scope of these measures. In this study, it is discussed whether the holding of joint stock company general meetings electronically can be considered as a permanent solution in extraordinary circumstances such as pandemic that may occur in the future. For this purpose, it has been discussed whether the provision 118a, which was added to the German Stock Corporation Act in July 2022, would be taken as an example, and in this respect, the literature on German law has been reviewed and these studies have been referred to. Also, due to the American origin of electronic general meetings, the literature on American law has also been benefited from. Since Turkish company law is influenced by German law, a comparison with Turkish law has also been made and Turkish doctrine on this subject has also been used.