RIGHT OF THE SHAREHOLDER TO INFORMATION: CHANGING THE APPROACH OF THE LEGISLATOR

Abstract

The article on the system level analyzes the development of the approach of the domestic legislator to the standardization of the issue about the scope, conditions and procedure of providing information about the joint-stock company to shareholders. Stressing the non-property nature of the right to information and the importance of its proper implementation (including the standpoint of protecting the interests of participants and effectively exercising other corporate rights), the author identifies and reveals the key stages in the evolution of normative and judicial positions on this issue, revealing a clear tendency to narrow information opportunities of shareholders. In the current state of affairs, special attention is paid to differences in the regulation of the shareholders right to information depending on the type of society (public or non-public) and difficulties in interpreting the term business purpose. The author considers in detail the topical issues about the correlation of confidential information and information constituting a commercial secret, the extent to which the right to information is exercised (presence of the shareholder status, specificity of the requirement to provide information, etc.).