Digital Technologies and Access to Information about A Corporate Dispute

In resolving corporate disputes of many kinds, the rights and legitimate interests of a considerable number of individuals may be impacted. Consequently, the establishment of specific procedural guidelines that would ensure the timely inclusion of all interested parties in the process is of paramount importance. According to Article 225.4 of the Russian Arbitrazh Procedure Code, the arbitrazh court has the authority to require a legal entity to notify its members of a corporate dispute. However, the law does not specify the procedure for the fulfillment of such an obligation by a corporation. In this note, the author considers approaches to employing digital technologies by a legal entity to inform its members and other individuals stipulated by the law regarding the emergence of a corporate dispute. An analysis of the current legislation reveals that the electronic form of notification is required exclusively for public joint-stock corporations. The author concludes that non-public business partnerships as well as non-public corporations must expressly provide for the use of electronic forms of notification to their participants and other persons specified in the law about a corporate dispute in the legal entity’s charter. This approach ensures the prompt dissemination of information about corporate disputes among the interested parties, thereby notification periods established by the arbitrazh court’s established notification periods. In cases where a legal entity’s charter lacks provisions for notifying about the emergence of a corporate dispute, the procedure of notifying about a meeting on rendering corporate decision or absentee voting should be applied.