Rethinking and Constructing the Mechanism of Directors’ Exemption from Liability under the Revision of the Chinese Company Law

Abstract

Since its introduction, Chinese Company Law has played a great role in the development of Chinese business system, but with the development of the economy, continuous technological innovation and changes in the world environment, the current Company Law can no longer meet Chinese current economic development and needs to be improved and modified. By examining the current legislative situation in China, the provisions on directors’ liability in China are too strict, which seriously affects the directors’ business judgment in favor of the company’s development in the process of business decision making and does not provide the company directors with the protection they deserve, but instead applies a more stringent standard of liability to directors. At present, there is a double lack of statutory exemption system and intentional exemption system for directors’ liability in Chinese corporate legal system, and in the field of practice, there is a misinterpretation of the judgment standard of directors’ liability for diligence, which needs to be clarified. By analyzing the value and function of the director’s liability exemption system, the article seeks ways to solve the problem of director’s liability exemption, protects directors from unfortunate punishment by introducing business judgment rules, reasonably constructs the intentional exemption mechanism of director’s liability, and clarifies the judgment standard of director’s liability for diligence. The director liability exemption system is reasonably constructed so as to improve the corporate governance problem in China and promote the internationalization level of Chinese company law.