Regulations on Employee Ownership

In Hainan Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

 (Draft Edition)

 (November, 2000)

 

Contents

 

Section I           General Provisions

Section II          Creation and Obtainment of Employee Shares

Section III        Trusted Management of Employee Shares

Section IV        Rights and Obligations of Employee Shareholders

Section  V         Rights and Obligations of Trustees

                          Part One: Assignment and Removal of Trustees

                          Part Two: Rights and Obligations of Trustees

Section VI        Disposal of Employee Shares

Section VII       Legal Liabilities

Section VIII      Supplementary Provisions

 

 

 

Section I General Provisions

 

Article 1 The Regulations are promulgated on the basis of supportive legal texts and documents to promote enterprise reform in Hainan SEZ, facilitate establishment of a modern enterprise system, increase the binding forces of enterprises, standardize employee shareholding behaviors and clarify rights and obligations of stakeholders.

 

Article 2 Employee ownership, as specified in the Regulations, refers to the behavior in which investing employees indirectly hold the shares of the employing enterprise through trustees in compliance with the Regulations.

 

Article 3  The Regulations apply to all types of limited liabilities companies, joint stock companies and shareholding cooperatives that are legally registered in Hainan SEZ.

 

For behaviors relating to employee ownership but are not covered by the Regulations, other related laws and regulations of the P. R. China will apply.

 

Article 4 The owner or the shareholders' meeting and the employee (or their representatives) assembly of a company has the autonomy to decide whether or not to adopt employee ownership.

 

State or collectively owned enterprises shall adopt employee ownership upon the time when they are restructured into limited liabilities companies, joint stock companies or shareholding cooperatives.

 

Article 5  Competent government authorities shall take active measures to support the promotion of the employee ownership programs. With approval from competent government authorities, subsidized taxation treatment shall be granted to banks and non-banking financial institutions providing loans to employee ownership trust, enterprises and companies adopting employee ownership as well as investing employees themselves.

 

Article 6 Implementation of employee ownership shall adhere to the principles of rational design, voluntary participation, non-discriminatory distribution of equity rights and self-assumed risks.

 

 

Section II Creation and Obtainment of Employee Shares

 

Article 7 Employee shares can, upon the approval of the owners or shareholders' meeting of an enterprise, be created either at the establishment of the enterprise or when the enterprise increases its equity with new investments or when the equity of the enterprise is transferred.

    

The aggregate amount of employee shares and its proportion as against the total equity of the enterprise shall be decided by the owners or stockholders’ meeting on the basis of the scale and performance of the enterprise as well as the investing ability of employees. Employees may own a relatively or absolutely controlling stake in the enterprise.

 

The types of employee shares shall be decided by the enterprise independently. Approved by the owners or shareholders’ meeting, the enterprise can include preferential shares in employee shares.

 

Article 8 The following staff of the enterprise are entitled to employee shares:

(1)  Employees who are working in the enterprise or its subsidiaries and have signed the service contract with the enterprise.

(2)  Directors of the board, supervisory board and managers.

(3)  Employees who have signed service contract with the enterprise and are assigned to work in branch operations or affiliated organizations of the enterprises.

 

Article 9 The employees may obtain employee shares through at least one of the following ways:

(1)   Purchase of shares in cash;

(2)  Appropriate conversion of industrial property rights, non-patent technology or other intellectual property rights into shares;

(3)  Appropriate conversion of human capital of employees into shares, upon the approval by the owners and shareholders’ meeting of the enterprise;

(4)  Withholding of 15% ~ 25% of the total annual wage payments to individual employees as personal contributions for obtaining shares, upon the approval by the employee representatives’ meeting and the employee himself/herself;

(5)  Purchase of shares with loans from banks or non-banking financial institutions with non-employee shareholders of the enterprise or other legitimate creditworthy individuals or organizations as the guarantors;

(6)  Purchase of shares with loans from banks and non-banking financial institutions, with trustees using employee shares as colleteral;

(7)  Purchase of shares with contributions from a certain percentage of accumulated welfare funds;

(8)  Purchase of shares with contributions from a certain percentage of reserves, upon approval by the owners or shareholders’ meeting of the enterprise;

(9)  Conversion of a certain amount of state-owned shares into employee shares, upon approval by the authority responsible for managing state-owned assets;

(10) Withdrawal of not more than 20% of the net assets of a restructured enterprise or not more than 20% of the increased net assets of a company for purchasing employee shares, upon approval by the authority for managing state-owned assets and other stakeholders;

(11) Obtainment of employee shares in other legal ways.

 

For each employee shareholder, shares obtained through ways of (1), (4), (5), (6) and (7) shall not be less than 50% of his or her total shareholding while shares obtained through ways of (2), (3), (8), (9) and (10) shall not be over 50% of his or her total shareholding.

 

Banks and non-banking financial institutions shall be encouraged to provide loans for financing the creation of employee ownership by enterprises and the purchase of employee shares by employees or trustees on preferential terms.

 

Article 10  A reasonable ratio shall be maintained between the contributions from Chairman of the board or general manager and those from ordinary employees. In principle, contributions from Chairman of the Board or general manager shall not be less than 5 times as much as average contributions from individual employee.

 

The enterprise may also adopt the stock option plan for the management and employees.

 

Article 11  While designing employee ownership plans, the owners or shareholders' meeting and employee assembly shall set aside 10% of the employee shares for future subscription by newly-added eligible employees or for adopting the stock option plan.

 

Purchase of preserved shares by newly-added eligible employees shall be governed by the Regulations. The purchase price shall be decided on the basis of the book value per share at the end of the last year or according to the current market price.

 

Article 12  Trustees shall pay back the principal and interests of loans mainly through the following ways:

(1)  Dividends from undistributed employee shares that have been purchased with loans;

(2)  Dividends from preserved employee shares;

(3)  Contributions from new employees for purchasing preserved employee shares;

(4)  Funds from other legal sources.

Employee shares acquired by trustees through loans shall be gradually distributed to employees according to the progress in loan repayment.

 

Section III Trusted Management of Employee Shares

 

Article 13 The trusted management of employee shares, as specified in the Regulations, refers to the behavior through which investing employees entrust their legal assets or shares of the employing enterprise into the hands of trustees for management or disposal. The trustees shall under their own names work towards the maximization of the interests of investing employees.

 

Article 14 Investing employees shall enter into trusteeship with trustees and acquire, manage or dispose of their shares through trustees.

 

The assets for trusted management must be assets legitimately owned by investing employees or to which investing employees have disposal rights.

 

Article 15  Assets for trusted management shall be strictly separated from other assets of employees and the personal assets of trustees.

 

Trustees' creditor rights acquired from managing trusted employee shares shall not be used to offset their personal debts.

 

In the event of termination of trusteeship due to death, dismissal, removal and bankruptcy of trustees, the trusted assets shall not be used for heritage or liquidation purposes.

 

Article 16  The trusteeship between investing employees and trustees shall be established in the form of a written contract. In the event that establishment of trusteeship is otherwise stipulated in state laws or regulations, the latter shall prevail.

 

The written contract of trusteeship shall be drafted by all investing employees or their agents and trustees through consultation. The said contract comes into force from the day when assets are transferred to trustees for trusted management. The contract has binding forces on both investing employees and trustees.

 

The contract shall contain the following items:

(1)  Purpose of establishing trusteeship;

(2)  Names of investing employees and trustees;

(3)  Types and scope of trusted assets and term of trusteeship, including structure, total amount and types of employee shares;

(4)  The way in which trusted assets (including employee contributions, equity and reservations) shall be transferred and managed, including the procedures for purchasing employee shares and form and contents of employee contributions certificate and roster of contributors;

(5)  Rights and obligations of investing employees during the term of trusteeship.

(6)  Rights and obligations of trustees during the term of trusteeship;

(7)  Forms and ways through which investing employees receive benefits from the trusteeship;

(8)  Rules governing transfer and buyback of employee shares;

(9)  Ways of appointing and removing trustees;

(10)         Procedures for altering or terminating the contract of trusteeship;

(11)         Other contents which investing employees and trustees deem as necessary.

 

Article 17  Investing employees shall reach an agreement in writing for the trusted management of collective assets. The agreement shall be signed by investing employees prior to the signing of the trusteeship contract.

 

The said agreement shall indicate the voluntary nature of the decision for trusted management of the contributions made collectively by all investing employees. In addition, the names of trustees, scope of assets for management as well as way of transferring the assets shall be specified in the agreement.

 

The said agreement comes into legal force upon the signature by all investing employees.

 

Article 18  Trusted management of employee shares shall proceed according to the following procedures:

 

(1)  Owners or the shareholders' meeting and employee assembly of the enterprise finalize the overall design of the employee ownership plan;

(2)  Investing employees sign the agreement for trusted management of collective assets;

(3)  Investing employees issue the signed agreement to trustees;

(4)  Trustees review the eligibility, shareholding quotas, contributions and ways of making contributions of investing employees;

(5)  Trustees and investing employees sign the contract of trusteeship;

(6)  Investing employees transfer the assets for trusted management to trustees according to the signed agreement;

(7)  Trustees invest in the enterprise under their own names;

(8)  Trustees issue the certificate of contributions to investing employees;

(9)  Trustees prepare and keep the roster of investing employees.

 

Employees who have already held shares of the enterprise can directly sign the contract of trusteeship with trustees after the signing of the agreement by investing employees.

 

Article 19  The certificate of contributions shall include the following:

(1)  The investing employee's name, ID number and number of the certificate of contributions;

(2)  The amount of contributions and number of shares held by the investing employee;

(3)  Date of certificate issuance and points for attention;

(4)  The signature of trustees.

 

Article 20 The roster of employee shareholders shall include the following:

(1)  The investing employee’s name, ID number, residence information and the number of the certificate of contributions;

(2)  The amount of contributions and number of shares held by the investing employee;

(3)  Changes of the number of shares held by investing employees;

(4)  Signature of the trustees, employee shareholders and the roster keeper.

 

Article 21 The certificate of contributions and the contract of trusteeship are written documents for employee shareholders to check and verify the amount of their contributions and clarify their rights and obligations. The roster of employee shareholders and the contract of trusteeship serve as the basis for trusted management of employee shares by trustees.

 

Any changes with the contributions from employee shareholders shall be reflected in the contract of trusteeship, certificate of contributions and roster of employee shareholders.

 

The certificate of contributions, roster of employee shareholders and contract of trusteeship shall be in consistency with each other. In the event of conflicting information, the roster of employee shareholders shall prevail.

 

 

Section IV Rights and Obligations of Employee Shareholders

 

Article 22 Employee shareholders have equal legal status.

Board directors and managers shall treat all employee shareholders without any discrimination and shall not act against the interests of employ shareholders and trustees.

Employees with the majority shares shall not harm the interests of other employees by taking advantage of their dominant position.

 

Article 23  Employee shareholders shall indirectly exercise their rights as well as undertake their obligations as shareholders through trustees in correspondence with their contributions.

 

Employee shareholders may reserve partial rights for themselves in managing and disposing of the trusted assets by making statements in the contract of trusteeship.

 

Article 24 Employee shareholders shall be entitled to the right to assigning and removing trustees and setting the standards of their payments.

 

Article 25  Employee shareholders shall have the right to serve on the board of directors as well as the supervisory board of the enterprise in the capacity of employee representatives.

 

Article 26  Employee shareholders shall have the right to be sufficiently informed of the management, revenues and expenditure of the trusted assets. They are also entitled to the right of checking, copying or duplicating accounting books related to their trusted assets.

 

Employee shareholders have the right to request negligent trustees to perform their obligations and question or make suggestions on the management affairs concerning the trusted assets.

 

Article 27  Employee shareholders have pre-voting rights on issues to be decided at the shareholders' meeting. The contract of trusteeship may specify issues that will require pre-voting. The preferential shares held by employees, however, do not represent voting rights.

 

Trustees shall, prior to the shareholders' meeting, solicit employee shareholders' opinions on issues that require pre-voting and then organize the pre-voting by employee shareholders.

 

Trustees shall inform all employee shareholders of the issues for pre-voting 15 days prior to the pre-voting. Results of the pre-voting may be borne out through forms of entrusted voting or written voting, etc.

 

Article 28  Employee shareholders exercise their pre-voting rights in proportion with their contributions, unless it is otherwise stipulated in laws and regulations governing shareholding cooperatives.

 

Decisions must be approved by employee shareholders representing not less than two thirds of the total amount of employee shares on the following issues:

(1)  Alteration in any form of the contract of trusteeship;

(2)  Election and replacement of employee representatives on the board of directors and the supervisory board;

(3)  Increase or reduction of the total amount of employee shares.

 

Decisions other than the above must be approved by employee shareholders representing not less than 1/2 of the total amount of employee shares

 

Article 29 When exercising their pre-voting rights, employee shareholders may vote in favor of or against a proposal or abstain from voting. The results of the pre-voting shall be recorded faithfully.

 

When representing employee shareholders to vote at the shareholders' meeting, trustees shall vote according to the recorded results from the pre-voting.

 

For interim proposals submitted to the shareholders' meeting, trustees may vote on behalf of employee shareholders to the maximization of the interests of employee shareholders.

 

Article 30  Employee shareholders have the right to benefit from the management of trusted assets according to their respective amounts of contributions.

 

An enterprise with employee ownership shall allocate its profits to trustees according to the percentage that employee shares represent in all shares of the enterprise. Discriminatory treatment of employee shares in any forms shall be strictly prohibited. Trustees shall redistribute the profits to individual employee shareholders according to the dividends they receive for each share and the contributions from individual employee shareholders.

 

With the approval by the shareholders’ meeting, employee shareholders may reinvest the allocated dividends in the enterprise. With the approval by competent government authorities, profits from the reinvestment in the enterprise by employee shareholders can be entitled to tax deduction.

 

Article 31 In the event that the management of trusted assets does not support achieving the purpose of trusted management or does not guarantee the maximization of the welfare of employee shareholders due to reasons unforeseeable at the signing of the trusteeship contract, employee shareholders have the right to revise the trusteeship contract and request for readjustment of management by trustees.

 

In the event that trustees fail to readjust the management of trusted assets according to the request of employee shareholders, employee shareholders have the right to ask for mandatory correction from the People's Court.

 

Article 32 Employee shareholders shall perform the following obligations:

 

(1)  Transfer their contributions to trustees according to the agreed time, amounts and manner as specified in the agreement of entrustment;

(2)  Pay trustees according to the trusteeship contract;

(3)  Keep their contributions for trusted management until the trusteeship contract expires, except for situations that are otherwise stipulated by the Regulations;

(4)  Refrain from using their employee shares as colleteral;

(5)  Other obligations stipulated in the Regulations and the trusteeship contract

 

Article 33 Employee shareholders who have been granted shares on the basis of their human capital value are obliged to make actual contributions equal to that value in the event that the enterprise dismisses, goes bankrupt or terminates because of other reasons.

 

 

Section V Rights and Obligations of Trustees

 

Part 1 Assignment and Removal of Trustees

 

Article 34 Trustees shall consist of 3-7 natural and/or legal persons.

 

Trustees may consist of natural persons only. With approval of competent government authorities or with support of existing laws and regulations, eligible legal persons may serve as trustees alone or jointly with natural persons. For legal persons acting as trustees, the legal representative of the legal person shall perform the role of the trustee.

Article 35  Trustees are assigned to their posts by the common entrustment of employee shareholders.

 

To achieve common entrustment of employee shareholders, there must be approval from employee shareholders representing not less than 2/3 of the total amount of employee shares.

 

The specific ways of assigning trustees shall be decided by employee shareholders through consultation, unless it is otherwise stipulated in rules other than the Regulations.

 

Article 36 Persons who fit one of the following descriptions shall not qualify for the role of trustees:

 

(1)  Those without or with hampered ability to handle civil affairs;

(2)  Those who have been penalized or imprisoned for crimes related to embezzlement, taking bribes, misappropriation or disruption of social and economic order and the end of the penalty is less than five years ago; or those who have been deprived of political rights due to crimes and the end of penalty is less than five years ago;

(3)  Those who have acted as president, director or manager of a liquidated company and personally assume responsibility for the liquidation and the liquidation of the company is less than three years ago;

(4)  Those who have acted as legal representative of a company whose business license has been suspended  due to illegal operations and the suspension is less than three years ago;

(5)  Those who have failed to repay debts of considerable amounts in due time.

 

In the event that the above-mentioned people are assigned as trustees, the assignment is invalid. However, the trusteeship shall not be invalid as a result of the invalidity of the assignment. The management of trusted assets shall remain in force, unless related parties are informed of the invalidity of the assignment.

 

Article 37 A trustee terminates his/her role when one of the following events occur:

 

(1)  Resignation from the duty with approval from employee shareholders;

(2)  Death or legal declaration of death;

(3)  Legally declared as a person without or with hampered ability to handle civil affairs;

(4)  Legally declared bankrupt or dismissed from the post;

(5)  Other events that lead to the deprivation of his/her legal rights.

 

Article 38   Trustees who breach the trusteeship contract in managing the trusted assets or neglect their managerial duties or incur great losses out of their own fault may be removed with the approval of employee shareholders representing not less than 2/3 of the total amount of trusted assets.

 

Article 39   Employee shareholders shall identify new trustees according to the Regulations and the clauses in the trusteeship contract to replace trustees whose duties have been terminated. The new trustees shall assume the rights and obligations of their predecessors. Trustees who resign from their posts shall continue to perform their duties until their successors are identified and assigned to the posts.

 

Article 40 Trustees whose duties have been terminated due to situations described in Item (1), (4) or (5) in Article 36 shall prepare a report on the managerial issues concerning the trusted assets and complete procedures required for transferring the management of trusted assets to their successors.

 

The replaced trustees shall be disengaged from all the obligations related to the issues listed in the said report under the condition that the report is approved by the employee shareholders representing not less than 2/3 of the total amount of employee shares. However, trustees shall be held responsible for misconduct as specified in the Regulations.

 

Article 41 In the event that one of the collectively assigned trustees terminates his/her role, the trusted assets shall be managed by the rest of the trustees.

 

In the event that the collectively assigned trustees terminate their roles together, the management of trusted assets shall be transferred in line with stipulations made in Articles 38 and 39.

 

Part Two  Rights and Obligations of Trustees

 

Article 42 Trustees invest in the enterprise in their own names on behalf of the employee shareholders according to the Regulations and the trusteeship contract. They perform the rights and obligations of shareholders in a concentrated way and assume limited liabilities of the enterprise with the total amount of contributions from employee shareholders.

 

Trustees are entitled to equal rights and assume equal obligations with other shareholders of the enterprise.

 

Article 43 Trustees are entitled to the right to manage the trusted assets according to the Regulations and the trusteeship contract.

 

Collectively assigned trustees have the right to handle managerial affairs in a collective manner. The opinions of a third person conveyed to one of the collectively assigned trustees are assumed to be conveyed to all collectively assigned trustees.

 

When collectively assigned trustees have differences in opinions, the trusteeship contract shall be the basis for dispute settlement. For issues that are not covered by the trusteeship contract, the employee shareholders shall make decisions.

 

Article 44 Trustees are entitled to the right to vote on behalf of employee shareholders at the shareholders' meeting according to the will of employee shareholders.

 

Trustees are entitled to the right to question and make suggestions on the management of the enterprise at the shareholders' meeting.

 

Article 45 Trustees are entitled to the right to share in the after-tax profits of the enterprise according to the number of shares they hold on behalf of employee shareholders.

 

Trustees are entitled to the right to claim the residual property of the enterprise according to the number of shares they hold on behalf of employee shareholders in the event that the enterprise is dismissed, liquidated or declared bankrupt.

 

Article 46  Trustees are entitled to the right to claim payments from employee shareholders according to the trusteeship contract, unless it is otherwise stipulated in the trusteeship contract.

 

The payments to trustees are subject to increase or reduction from the amount agreed in the trusteeship contract through the consultation between employee shareholders and trustees.

 

Article 47  Trustees have the right to ask for compensation from employee shareholders for prepaid necessary expenses and losses through no fault of their own in managing the trusted assets. The compensation can be made through withholding an equivalent amount of proceeds from managing the trusted assets.

 

Trustees shall repay with their personal assets the debts to the third party incurred through their misconduct, neglect of duties or mishandling of affairs in managing the trusted assets.

 

Article 48  Trustees shall comply with the rules in the trusteeship contract and shall not seek personal gains by taking advantage of their position and power as trustees.

 

Trustees have the obligation of treating the trusted assets as cautiously as their personal assets and shall work towards the maximization of the benefits of employee shareholders.

 

Article 49  The trusted assets only represent employee shares of the employing enterprise and trustees are prohibited from investing the trusted assets in companies and institutions other than the employing enterprise, unless it is otherwise agreed upon between employee shareholders and trustees.

 

Article 50 Trustees must separate the trusted assets from employee shareholders from their personal assets and trusted assets from other sources. In the event that the trusted assets are in the form of capital, separate accounts shall be kept.

 

Trustees are prohibited from transferring the trusted assets into their personal accounts or get into business transactions with the mixture of the trusted assets and their personal assets.

 

Article 51 Trustees are prohibited from seeking personal benefits other than the agreed payments as specified in the trusteeship contract by using the trusted assets.

 

Trustees are prohibited from misappropriating the trusted assets or illegally using the trusted assets as loans or bank savings or being engaged in any activity that may undermine the interests of employee shareholders.

 

Article 52 Trustees shall appropriately and completely keep accounts of the management of the trusted assets and handling of related affairs.

 

Trustees shall make annual reports regularly to employee shareholders on the management, proceeds and expenditures of the trusted assets according to the trusteeship contract.

 

Article 53 Trustees shall transfer the proceeds to employee shareholders in a timely manner according to the Regulations and the trusteeship contract.

 

Article 54 Trustees shall handle affairs related to the management of the trusted assets in person, unless it is otherwise stipulated in the trusteeship contract or there are well-justified reasons for not doing so. Trustees who entrust the management of the trusted assets to their agents shall bear as much responsibility of the consequences of the management as their agents.

 

Article 55  Collectively assigned trustees shall be jointly responsible for the management of the trusted assets. The joint responsibilities to be taken up by collectively assigned trustees shall be confined to the obligations of trustees as stipulated in the Regulations and the trusteeship contract.

 

 

Section VI Disposal of Employee Shares

 

Article 56 Expect for situations stipulated in this regulation, employee shares shall not be withdrawn, transferred or inherited.

 

Article 57 The shares held by an employee shareholder, upon his/her retirement, can either be kept by himself/herself, or be transferred in accordance with stipulations of Article 38 and the trusteeship contract or be bought-back by trustees as reserved employee shares in accordance with Article 59.

 

When employee shareholder leaves the enterprise for dying, moving out, resigning and being dismissed by the enterprise, the shares that he/she holds shall be transferred in accordance with Article 58 and the trusteeship contract or be bought back by trustees as reserved employee shares in accordance with Article 59.

 

 

Under equal conditions, trustees have the right to buy back the transferred shares from employee shareholders prior to others. When exercising their rights in purchasing back the employee shares, trustees shall follow the principle of maximizing the profits of employee shareholders.

 

Article 58 The transfer of employee shares must be conducted according to the following requirements:

(1)  As long as the employee shares can be transferred to employees with the share-holding qualification within the enterprise, they shall not be transferred to others outside the enterprise.

(2)  Only shares that have been held for three years and above can be transferred.

(3)  Board directors, members of the supervisory board, managers and trustees shall not transfer their employee shares during their service term and within six months after the termination of their service term.

(4)  The transferring price shall be determined in accordance with the net value of each share or the market price at the end of last year.

(5)  The two parties involved in the transfer shall complete procedures for altering ownership of employee shares in a timely manner with the trustees.

 

Article 59 The buy-back of employee shares must be conducted according to the following requirements:

(1)  When an employee shareholder dies and retires, his/her employee shares shall be bought back by trustees within one year as reserved employee shares. The compensation for the repurchased employee shares shall be paid to the employee or his/her heir.

(2)  When an employee shareholder leaves the enterprise for other reasons, his/her employee shares shall be bought back by trustees on a piecemeal basis within three years as reserved employee shares. The compensation for the repurchased employee shares shall be paid to the employee.

(3)  When a board director, members of the supervisory board or manager leave the enterprise, the employee shares that he/she holds shall be bought back by trustees as reserved employee shares on a piecemeal basis within five years after the disengagement auditing. The compensation for the repurchased employee shares shall be paid to the employee or his/her heir.

(4)  The buy-back price shall be determined in accordance with the net value of each share or the market price at the end of last year.

(5)  Employees whose shares have been bought back shall submit their certificate of contributions to trustees for cancellation.

 

Article 60 Trustees shall set up a reservation fund according to the employment plan of the enterprise for the purpose of buying back employee shares.

 

The reservation fund shall be raised from the dividends of reserved employee shares, contributions from new employees for share subscription, loans borrowed by trustees by using their personal assets as colleteral and other legal sources.

 

The reservation fund shall be used only for the specific purpose as stipulated in the trusteeship contract. Trustees shall publicize regularly every year the proceeds and expenditures of the reservation fund to employee shareholders.

 

 

Section VII Legal Liabilities

 

Article 61 In the event that trustees violate the Regulations and the trusteeship contract by investing the trusted assets in companies and institutions other than the employing enterprise for commercial purposes, the investment is deemed as invalid. Returns from such investments shall be retained as proceeds of the trusted assets whereas losses from such investments shall be compensated by trustees.

 

Article 62 In the event that trustees violate the Regulations and the trusteeship contract by granting shares to ineligible employees, the ineligible employee shareholder shall return all the employee shares. Trustees shall compensate for losses of other employee shareholders thus incurred.

 

Article 63 In the event that an employee shareholder fails to transfer contributions in full to trustees in time, he/she shall assume the responsibility of breaching the agreement.

 

The use of employee shares as colleteral is invalid. Employee shareholders who use their employee shares as colleteral shall compensate for all the losses to other employee shareholders thus incurred.

 

Article 64 In the event that board directors, members of the supervisory board or managers treat employee shareholders in a discriminatory way; or the employee shareholders with majority control harm the interests of other employee shareholders, they shall be held responsible for making compensations. Board directors, members of the supervisory board or managers who breach the Regulations in the above-mentioned manner shall also be subject to administrative penalties within the enterprise.

 

Article 65  Trustees who violate the Regulations by distorting the pre-voting results from employee shareholders shall stand the losses thus incurre