Hans De Wulf

Shareholder inspection rights in Belgium: unpopular or unnecessary?

WP 2022-18

In this Working Paper Hans De Wulf dicusses the rules and relatively rare case law on shareholder inspection rights, allowing minority shareholders to inspect corporate documents, often in preparation for a derivative claim. It argues courts should not demand that plaintiffs show the "discovery" pursued during the inspection procedure could potentially be useful for a subsequent claim. Rather, the procedure should be considered as a stand-alone check on directors at the disposal of minority sharheolders.