Implementation Decree for the Say-on-Pay Provisions of the Loi Sapin II Adopted
Adopted on 8 November 2016, the Sapin II Act (Loi Sapin II) introduced a compulsory ex ante vote on remuneration policy and an ex post vote on the amount of remuneration received in accordance with the policy passed the previous year.
On 20 March 2017, the Prime Minister adopted the implementation decree (décret d'application). The decree specifies the types of remuneration concerned by the ex ante vote. As expected, the term is defined broadly and encompasses fixed remuneration, variable remuneration and exceptional remuneration. This year, companies must submit to shareholders a remuneration policy and report for approval (an ex ante vote), as provided by the Loi Sapin II. If they follow the AFEP-MEDEF corporate governance code ("2016 AFEP-MEDEF Code"), they must submit a nonbinding mandatory request for approval on the amount of remuneration paid to each specified executive for the previous year's service (an ex post vote). The ex post vote of Loi Sapin II will not become applicable until 2018, with respect to remuneration paid in 2017.
In recent annual meetings, shareholders have begun to vote down executive packages (e.g., Elior's annual general meeting held on 10 March 2017). However, as indicated above, these votes will remain nonbinding as permitted by the 2016 AFEP-MEDEF Code, given that this part of the Loi Sapin II is not yet applicable.
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