Newly founded joint-stock companies must create a freely accessible website without delay after incorporation. The transitional provisions of the Act do not place any immediate obligations on current joint-stock companies, but the requirement will become valid as soon as the Act takes effect.
The minimum requirements for the website include the company’s business name, registered office, identification number (IČ) and information regarding its entry in the Commercial Register.
The website should serve as a means of communication with shareholders and other persons throughout the company’s existence. First and foremost, invitations to the company’s general meeting should be posted on the website. This will apply to companies with bearer shares as well as to those with registered shares. The invitation must be available on the website until the day of the general meeting.
The website also serves another purpose: before a certain company within a corporate group can be legally subject to joint management within that group, the company is required to post a relevant announcement on its website.
Pursuant to the Act, a company’s website may also be used by the board of directors as an alternative means of providing information to its shareholders, for example, on approved financial statements, counterproposals submitted by shareholders concerning a general meeting’s agenda, or to provide explanations to queries submitted prior to the general meeting. Although limited liability companies (“s.r.o.”) are not required to establish a website, the same rules apply if they already have one.
For the sake of completeness let’s add that a cooperative’s articles of association may require the cooperative’s bodies to provide information to members via an information board, which – as per the articles – may also be made available on its website.