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In order to further complete the governance structure of listed companies and fully exert the positive role of independent directors in company governance, Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) revised the Independent Director Record Filing Procedures recently to further clarify the standards and record filing procedures for the qualification and independence of independent director candidates of listed companies. According to an official from the SZSE, the independent director candidate record filing system is one of the measures to supervise and urge the independent directors to perform their duty of loyalty and diligence. In recent years, in order to utilize the power of social supervision in a positive manner, the exchange introduced the independent director candidate information public disclosure system. However, the effect of such public disclosure was limited for the reason that the quality of information disclosed varied greatly and some information disclosed was incomplete. In addition, in the former procedures, two statements, the Statement of Independent Director Nominees and the Statement of Independent Director Candidates, had not been adjusted according to changes in market conditions and no space was reserved for electronization of filing procedures. Therefore, in this revision, the SZSE sought extensive opinions from the listed companies and took the requirements of related laws, regulations and business standards into consideration, further clarifying the qualifications of independent directors and optimizing the subsequent business procedures such as independent director information filing and candidate public notification, etc. With regard to the statements of independent director nominees and candidates, both the nominees and candidates are required to acknowledge all items in the statements one by one. As indicated by the official from the SZSE, the public media shall be utilized and the power of public opinion shall be combined to supervise the duty performance of independent directors. Should any entity or individual have any dispute on the qualification or independence of any independent director candidate, they can send their feedback on any information which may affect the qualification or independence of any independent director candidate to the SZSE through the investor hotline, 0755-82083000, or the email address info@szse.cn of the SZSE. On the other hand, the SZSE now has started the reconstruction of electronization of independent director record filing, with which, the electronized procedures of online filling and submission of curriculum vitae, public notification and subsequent qualification record filing can be realized for independent directors. In the future, the content of independent director candidate information for public disclosure will be selected from the curriculum vitae of candidates automatically, ensuring the consistency and completeness of information to be publicly disclosed. |
