Bradfield & Scott Lawyers
  • Home
  • Expertise
  • Firm Overview
  • Publications
    • Publications - GDPR
    • Publications - Unforeseeable Circumstances and Terms of Trade - Resources
    • Publications - Are You Compliant? Licensing and Regulation in the Hospitality and Food Services Industry
    • Publications - Company Meetings and signing documents
    • Publications - The latest on the introduced measures
    • Publications - Residential Tenancies - Land Tax Relief and NSW Measures
    • Publications - Intellectual Property - When Love is Partly in the Air
    • Publications - Property & Development - Changes to Capital Gains Tax
    • Publications - COVID-19 - The latest developments
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Announcements
Home > Publications

Publications - COVID-19

Company meetings and signing documents: ​Making it easier for business to operate during COVID-19

7 May  2020
Meetings

From 6 May 2020, companies in Australia will be able to convene annual general meetings and other meetings prescribed under the Corporations Act 2001 entirely online rather than face-to-face thanks to the Corporations (Coronavirus Economic Response) Determination (No.1) 2020.

As contemplated in paragraph 5 of the Determination a company that has email addresses for some of its members can now send those members an email setting out or attaching notice of a meeting, and other material relating to the meeting, or providing a link to where the notice and other material can be viewed or downloaded.  To the other members, the company could send a letter or postcard setting out a URL for viewing or downloading the notice and other material.

As noted above, under the changes, companies will also be able to:

  • achieve a quorum with participants attending online; and
  • hold meetings online.

Meetings must continue to provide participants with a reasonable opportunity to participate.  As a result, at shareholder meetings for example, members will be able to put questions to board members online and vote online: see paragraph 5(c) and (d) of the Determination.

Documents

Further changes will also allow company officers to execute documents electronically.  Previously, in a number of cases (see for example Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd & Ors v Kenneth Ross Pickard & Anor [2019] SASC 123) signatories were required to sign the same physical document, i.e. there needed to be a single, static document that both officers sign, rather than there being a situation where two electronic signatures are sequentially applied to an electronic document.

The changes introduced by the Determination are said to be aimed at ensuring that documents are able to be properly executed electronically at a time when ordinary business operations have been disrupted.

Timing

The changes contained in the Determination will be in effect for six months only and will be repealed on 5 November 2020.

If you would like advice in relation to your own personal circumstances, please contact us.  We will endeavour to respond to any queries that come through on our website as quickly as possible.  Click here, or call one of our lawyers.
​
John Graves
Principal
Bradfield & Scott Lawyers
Telephone:  9233 7299
Email:  jgraves@bradscott.com.au
Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
Careers
Contact
Location
Picture