Supervisory Board
What is a supervisory board?
The supervisory board is the ‘supervisory body’ of a corporation or a cooperative. A public limited company is the only type of company for which the establishment of a supervisory board is mandatory. In the case of a limited liability company, a supervisory board is only required if certain size criteria laid down by law are exceeded (e.g. more than 300 employees).
What are the responsibilities of a supervisory board?
The main duties of the supervisory board are to supervise the management board of a public limited company, to appoint and dismiss its members, and to approve the annual accounts. In the case of a limited liability company, the supervisory board has no power to participate in the appointment of managing directors.
Which companies are included?
Following the introduction of the Act on Gender Equality on the Supervisory Board on 1 January 2018, the Supervisory Board must now, in companies covered by the legislation, consist of at least 30% men and 30% women. This applies to listed companies, as well as companies that permanently employ more than 1,000 staff.
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