According to the government decree that entered into force on 11 November 2020 no general meeting of more than 10 attendees may be convened until 11 December 2020

Subsection 1 of article 5 of Government Decree No. 484/2020 (XI. 10.) entered into force on 11 November 2020 according to which – with certain exceptions – it is forbidden to organize any event and it is forbidden to be present in person at the venue thereof regardless of the venue of the event.

The prohibition also includes so-called “private events” of more than 10 attendees in person, although the concept thereof is not defined either by this government decree or by other legislation. Nevertheless, from the provision of the Civil Code [Section 1 of Article 3:111.] according to which sessions of the supreme body shall not be public, it can be concluded that – until a specific regulation to this effect is provided – no general meeting may be held if the number of the attendees in person exceeds the above-mentioned number.

From this it also follows that, in the case of companies with a large number of owners, the already convened or announced general meetings cannot be held with attendance in person if the number of participants should exceed 10 persons. The prohibition applies in particular to public limited companies, since in their case no decision (resolution) shall be adopted without holding a general meeting on matters that fall within the general meeting’s scope of competence. Therefore, in the case of the supreme body, it is not possible to use electronic means of communication or adopt decisions (resolutions) without holding a meeting.

Given to the fact that the provisions of the government decree can be applied – at least for the time being – until 11 December 2020, a Plc., according to the current legal situation, may convene a general meeting by 14 December at the earliest and may hold it only if the provisions being in force on the scheduled date so permit it.

Therefore, in order to clearly regulate the operation of legal entities a specific government decree would still be needed such as it was government decree No. 102/2020 (IV.10.) in the spring of 2020. It would seem a practical solution if the government empowers again the executive body to decide on matters that would otherwise fall within the supreme body’s scope of competence.