“Staying up-to-date despite a flood of legislation”: CMS keeps executives and supervisory board members abreast of new provisions for public limited companies

The legislator demands a lot from executives and supervisory board members.  Compliance, corporate governance reports, CFR reports, the GDPR, private enforcement in competition law, the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Register Act (Wirtschaftliche Eigentümer Registergesetz – WiEReG) and whistleblowing hotlines are just a few of the legal provisions that are increasingly regulating entrepreneurial freedoms. Added to these are internal control and risk management systems, which force executives and supervisory board members to keep up-to-date whether they like it or not. That is why the series of events hosted by CMS in April and May were aimed directly at the members of executive and supervisory boards in public limited companies.

In corporate and commercial law, Johannes Reich-Rohrwig is one of Austria’s leading attorneys-at-law. Over the course of three events in recent weeks, he invited participants to become familiar with the numerous new legal provisions affecting public limited companies. Some 50 executives and supervisory board members from Austria’s top corporations seized the opportunity to attend the CMS Business Breakfasts.

“Obviously, for executives and supervisory board members it is about having legally flawless information and doing nothing wrong,” says Johannes Reich-Rohrwig. “A comprehensive update, like this series of events provides, gives executives and supervisory board members personal security and guidance on how to act in tricky situations.” 

Wide range of topics

But the agenda did not just include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force recently, and the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Register Act (WiEReG). Topic areas like “useful illegality”, personal liability and questions as to whether the company may reimburse any penalties personally imposed on executive board members if it has derived an advantage from the infringement aroused particularly great interest among the participants. 

Update I – alongside the GDPR and WiEReG – was dedicated to disclosure obligations at annual general meetings, documentation obligations for transfer prices and also sustainability and CSR reports. Also covered were the new obligations regarding diversity on the supervisory board.
The second event focused further on liability risks, due diligence and the duty of loyalty. More specifically, it also addressed delicate issues relating to discretionary powers and the business judgement rule as well as confidentiality and non-compete obligations. 
The CMS series of events concluded with the third Business Breakfast, which drew attention to aspects of competition, administrative and employment law as well as to obligations under stock exchange law. In addition, the principle of legality, “useful illegalities” and D&O insurance for company directors were also discussed.

CMS hot topics

In 2018, CMS is hosting numerous events aimed specifically at companies wishing to receive timely information about risk assessment and prevention. But alongside Risk & Prevention, CMS Vienna is also inviting companies to exclusive information events dealing with a second major topic area – Digital Economy – in order to present and discuss increasingly important legal issues relating to FinTechs, cybercrime, smart contracts and ICO (Initial Coin Offerings), etc.

A photo of Johannes Reich-Rohrwig for free use is available here:

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Further events at CMS in Vienna can be found on the website at cms.law under Events.