Netherlands: revised corporate governance code issued

The Dutch Corporate Governance Monitoring Commission has published an updated edition of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. In an accompanying press release - available here in English - the Commission states:

...the Code should encourage proper conduct on the part of management and supervisory board members and shareholders. This is why more emphasis is to be placed on how they perform their duties in practice rather than on how they account for their actions in retrospect. The Committee considers that too much energy has been spent in complying with detailed reporting rules, while the really important issues have received insufficient attention. The decisive factor in the operation of the Code is not strict compliance with the letter of the code (box ticking) but the extent to which all concerned act in practice in accordance with the spirit of the Code.

The main adjustments are in the areas of risk management, executive pay, shareholder responsibility, diversity in the composition of the supervisory board and corporate social responsibility.