Oecd legal Instruments

VI.B. 
Corporate governance frameworks should allow for dialogue between a company, its 
shareholders and stakeholders to exchange views on sustainability matters as relevant for the 
company’s business strategy and its assessment of what matters ought to be considered material. 
General shareholder meetings provide an important forum for a structured decision-making process. 
Dialogue between companies, shareholders, the workforce and other stakeholders may also play an 
essential role in informing management’s decision-making process and in building trust in a long-term 
business strategy. While such dialogue may be useful for a range of issues, this is notably important for 
decisions to improve a company’s sustainability and resilience, which may represent short-term cash 
outflows while generating long-term benefits. Such dialogue may also prove helpful for the company to 
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assess which sustainability matters are material and, therefore, should be disclosed. When in dialogue with 
shareholders, the company should comply with the principle of equitable treatment of shareholders. 
VI.B.1. When corporate governance frameworks allow for existing companies to adopt corporate 
forms that incorporate both for-profit and public benefit objectives, such frameworks should provide 
for due consideration of dissenting shareholder rights. 
A number of jurisdictions have frameworks for the establishment of public benefit corporations or other 
specific corporate forms that enable companies to incorporate both for-profit and public benefit objectives, 
that allow them to pursue explicit objectives related to environmental and social matters. In such cases where 
an existing for-profit company adopts public benefit objectives, it is important to have mechanisms in place 
that provide for the due consideration of dissenting shareholder rights. Possible solutions to protect the 
interests of dissenting shareholders could include requiring the consent of minority shareholders or a 
supermajority shareholders’ approval for a company to add public benefit goals to its articles of association, 
or providing the right for dissenting shareholders to sell their shares back to the company at a fair price.