Justice and Security emergency legislation forwarded to House of Representatives
The bill prepared by Minister Dekker (Legal Protection) and Minister Grapperhaus (Justice and Security) to introduce new temporary legislation required as a result of the coronavirus crisis was submitted to the House of Representatives today. In addition to fighting the coronavirus directly, it is vitally important that society keeps functioning as normally as possible.
The emergency legislation will cease to apply on 1 September 2020. As it cannot be excluded that temporary legislation will still be needed after this date, the bill includes a clause providing for an extension by two months at a time. Some items in the bill will take effect retroactively as of 23 March 2020.
The bill provides for the temporary adoption of electronic solutions by various parties that are bound under normal circumstances by physical consultation and decision-making procedures. These include listed companies and associations that are required to hold annual general meetings. On account of the coronavirus, meeting in person is undesirable.
Under the temporary legislation, the legal entities that make up a company's management structure may decide to hold a general meeting exclusively via livestream (audio or video). This is on the condition that members and shareholders have the opportunity to submit questions either before or during the meeting that will be answered no later than during the meeting itself. Should a member or shareholder have been unable to take optimal part in the meeting, any decisions made will still be legally valid. Alternatively, the management may decide to postpone the deadline for holding a general meeting or preparing the financial statements.
As for the judiciary, it will be able to make greater use of electronic means of communication. Video links are already in use for oral proceedings. In the future, technology such as video calling may be used more frequently, for example so that lawyers or parties to the proceedings no longer need to appear in person.
This also applies to persons who, because of coronavirus restrictions, are currently unable to appear in person before a civil-law notary to sign documents such as testaments. They may fulfil their obligations using audio-visual means of communication instead.
Furthermore, it will be possible to take saliva samples and mouth swabs as well as blood samples from suspects if there is reason to believe that they carry a serious infectious disease, meaning that suspects will be able to be tested for the coronavirus.