Individual Shareholders’ Right To Information?

It is generally accepted that the statutory obligation for the management board and the supervisory board to provide information about the company to the general meeting upon request also applies with regard to individual shareholders, but does this right to information also exist outside the general meeting?

In a recent ruling (HR 9 July 2010, ASM International N.V., JOR 2010/228), the Supreme Court confirmed that the right of shareholders to information is only vested in the general meeting as a company body. The term general meeting, however, should be interpreted broadly, as held by the Supreme Court: "In addition, every shareholder independently has the right to ask questions at a meeting, regardless of whether these pertain to items on the agenda, and the company must answer those questions." This means that the company is not required to answer questions posed outside the general meeting, among other things because of the administrative burden such an