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International Restructuring Newswire
Welcome to the Q3 2024 edition of the Norton Rose Fulbright International Restructuring Newswire.
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Canada | Publication | January 2020
Statistics Canada has released new data on the representation of men and women on boards of directors in Canada. Only 18.1% of board seats in Canada were held by women in 2017. The number rises slightly to 21.3% when looking solely at director positions in publicly traded corporations. The government statistics are consistent with those of the Canadian securities regulators, which released detailed data from their review of women on boards and in executive officer positions last week. The topic of diversity in the boardroom is a hot one that has resulted in various legislative and policy developments in the past few years.
The following are some highlights from the Statistics Canada data, which was released on January 28, 2020.
In 2017:
The Canadian securities regulators implemented a “comply or explain” diversity disclosure regime in 2014 in an attempt to increase the representation of women on boards and in executive officer positions. Corporations listed on the TSX must provide certain statistics to shareholders annually and must either disclose the details of their gender diversity policies or, if they do not have one, explain why not.
In order to measure progress, the Canadian securities regulators release a report every fall that summarizes their review of the required disclosure regarding women on boards and in executive officer positions and corresponding corporate policies.
The Canadian securities regulators released their fifth annual disclosure review in October 2019, which noted a continued modest improvement in female representation. Last week they published the underlying data used to prepare the report. Key information from the report includes:
The federal government introduced mandatory diversity disclosure requirements for all publicly listed corporations existing under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) effective January 1, 2020. These requirements are similar to those of the Canadian securities regulators, with the key differences being that they apply to all publicly listed CBCA corporations (not just those listed on the TSX) and that the requirements apply to a broader concept of diversity than just gender diversity. The federal government will conduct a progress review in five years and has advised that if the level of diversity in the boardroom and the C-suite has not risen sufficiently in that time, it may impose specific targets on federal corporations.
In addition to securities and corporate law developments, a number of corporate governance organizations and proxy advisory firms have recently released policies and guidance in support of increasing the number of women on boards. Even Goldman Sachs has weighed in.
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Welcome to the Q3 2024 edition of the Norton Rose Fulbright International Restructuring Newswire.
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The English Court of Appeal has decided that an artificial neural network (ANN) was not patentable in Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks v Emotional Perception AI Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 825 reversing the finding of the lower court (the High Court), and in so doing agreeing with the UK Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) original rejection of the patent application on the basis of unpatentable subject matter.
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In this edition we look at real estate highlights from the King’s Speech; a Supreme Court decision on whether discharges of sewage into a canal can be a nuisance; and the management of “higher-risk buildings”: what is a building assessment certificate and who is the Accountable Person?
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