ArmInfo. The Armenian government intends to protect the interests of small shareholders of joint-stock companies. Amendments to the law "On Joint Stock Companies" were made at the extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on December 14 in the second and final reading. According to Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan, the legislative initiative is conditioned by the need to improve Armenia's performance in the Doing Business report on the protection of the rights of small shareholders. In addition, the aim is also to increase the level of transparency of management in joint- stock companies. In accordance with the amendments, three types of changes are proposed. The first of them consists in the fact that affiliated with the company before the conclusion of the transaction will need to disclose the circumstances associated with the affiliation. "For today, this duty only means disclosure of the fact that the person is a party to the transaction, an intermediary or a representative, while clarifying details," Khachatryan explained.
The second innovation provides for the inclusion in the register of shareholders of information on the rights and obligations of members of the boards of directors of joint-stock companies when they combine a position in another company. For today, this regulation does not imply the specification of the person's functional duties.
And, finally, the third amendment proposes to prohibit the combination of the positions of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the General Director of open joint-stock companies. According to Tigran Khachatryan, now such a restriction applies to companies with more than 500 shareholders.
With the adoption of the bill, as the deputy minister assured, the transparency of the management of joint- stock companies will be enhanced, the mechanism for preventing conflicts of interests will be improved, which will ultimately protect the interests of small shareholders. "Of course, it is completely impossible to exclude possible abuses, but the bill will be another step in the direction of protecting the rights of minority shareholders," Tigran Khachatryan stressed.