独立董事勤勉义务的法律问题探讨

On the Legal Issues Regarding the Duty of Diligence of Independent Directors

独立董事的勤勉履职对保护公司、中小股东和投资者的权益至关重要。独立董事勤勉义务既要求积极主动性,也要求全面且切实。但从实证法角度,现行独立董事制度存在任职条件不明确、选拔制度有瑕疵、激励制度不完善和惩戒制度原则化等问题,影响了独立董事勤勉职责的履行,进而导致独立董事因勤勉职责承担的法律责任产生争议。因此,细化独立董事任职条件和程序,明确且强化独立董事在公司治理中的法律地位,完善薪酬制度及赔偿制度等,将有利于独立董事勤勉职责更好地履行。

The duty of diligence of independent directors is of crucial importance to the protection of the interests of the company,medium-sized and small shareholders and investors.It requires an active participation,which must be thorough and practical.However,from the angle of positivism there are some problems concerning the ongoing the independent directors system,namely,unclear position-assuming qualifications,defective promotion rules,imperfect incentive mechanism,and principle-only punishment,thus making the legal liabilities of independent directors assuming the duty of diligence controversial.Hence,it is argued that the independent directors’position-assuming qualifications and procedures should be detailed,their legal status in corporate governance should be clarified and strengthened,and the pay and loss-claims systems should be improved so as to better advance their duty of diligence.