论我国独立董事任期制度的完善

On the Perfection of Tenure System of Independent Directors in China

“独立性”是独立董事的灵魂和核心。独立董事的任期过长会导致独立董事之间社会关系的错综复杂,进而损害独立董事的独立性;而过短的任期会降低独立董事对公司业务的熟悉程度,从而影响其履职能力。我国独立董事的相关立法应当借鉴域外关于独立董事任期的规定,考虑进一步区分独立董事在不同专业委员会中的任期规定,并以缩短独立董事的最长任期为指导原则,同时引入交错任期制、“遵守或解释”等规则建立独立董事任期的弹性处理机制。

Independence is the soul and core of independent directors.The long tenure of the independent directors will aggravate the complicated social relations between the independent directors and impair the independence of the independent directors.However,a short tenure will reduce the familiarity of independent directors with the company’s business,thus affecting their ability to perform their duties.Legislation of independent directors in China should draw on the experience of the provisions of the tenure of independent directors in countries from outside the region,and further distinguish the tenure limits for independent directors in different professional committees.Besides,taking shortening the longest tenure of independent directors as the guiding principle,flexible tenure mechanism for independent directors should be established through the introduction of staggered tenures,“comply or explain”rule,and so on.