Law and technology: Virtual general meetings in Brazilian companies

The text examines the challenges and opportunities presented by new formats of general meetings held by public limited companies. These were brought about by a recent amendment to Law 6404/76, regulated by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission – CVM, which allows the holding of a digital meeting (everyone participates exclusively by videoconference) or a hybrid format (some participate in person and some by videoconference). These new formats create an opportunity to bring shareholders closer to the corporate life of companies, as it enables online participation in debates and voting on matters of relevance and interest to the company. The text makes comments on the procedures laid out in CVM the regulations to be adopted by companies before, during and after the creation of these new formats and addresses some of the main challenges, such as the possibility of opposition to the digital format by minority shareholders, as a way to mitigate any possible abusive use of these new meeting formats and any loss of the minority shareholders’ right to participate and vote.