Le principe d’immédiateté au sein de l’assemblée générale

Traditionally, the general meeting of shareholders was viewed as the ideal place where shareholders take their decisions based on the expression of their contradicting views. Today, the shareholders meeting is no longer a forum where shareholders exchange ideas, but a place where votes are registered and results are communicated. Shareholders take their decisions prior to the general meeting. This trend raises the question whether the current legislation is suited to enable an efficient and economical decision-making process of the shareholders. This article tries to determine more particularly whether the principle of immediacy that still governs the course of the general meeting of shareholders in Swiss law, is a vestige of the past, or a necessity to achieve this objective in the context of publicly listed companies.

The author shows how the principle of immediacy has been relativized over the course of time and analyses different relevant factors that result in a recognized…