Newsletter
COMPANIES MAY HAVE ONLY ONE DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON
The Company Law provides that for the board of directors of a company limited by shares to elect a deputy chairperson, the office of deputy chairperson must be explicitly provided for un-der the Articles of Incorporation (AOI), and only one person may be elected. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) stated in an inter-pretation dated 11 March 2003 that if the AOI provides for the election of two deputy chair-persons, this is a violation of the Company Law.
Accordingly, the MOEA stated in an interpreta-tion dated 15 May 2003 that if a company's shareholders' meeting passes a resolution to elect two deputy chairpersons, the resolution is illegal and as such null and void; therefore the question of how the powers of a deputy chairperson should be divided between the two elected deputies does not arise. Furthermore, if a com-pany applies to the competent authority to reg-ister such a dual appointment, the authority will reject the application on the grounds that it vio-lates the Company Law, until such violation is rectified and a lawful appointment is made.