Who do I trust with my money?
In the search for an answer, brokers are according to the BGH judgement of 13.12.2000 (Az. III ZR 62/99) ?? obligated to examine the investment concept, concerning which they are to give information, (at least) for plausibility ?? One of the simplest ways of checking the seriousness and law-abidingness of the initiator is to ask whether the relevant annual reports have been deposited with the commercial register in accordance with the so-called KapCoRiLiG or the Publizitätsgesetz. It should be noted that this already applies to the simple investment intermediary. Consequently, it is regularly not necessary that an investment advisor is involved.
Purpose of disclosure:
Anyone who has claims against a company would like to inspect the annual accounts at the commercial register in order to gain an insight into the financial circumstances. Already in the first company law directive (68/151/EEC) of 9 March 1968, it was stipulated that the member states must ensure that all companies disclose their balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. If this is not done, the member states are to threaten appropriate measures, according to Art. 6 of this directive. The first implementation of the directive took no less than 17 years! Because of the small sanction of an “administrative fine” for non-compliance, the Commission had brought an action against the Federal Republic of Germany before the European Court of Justice (Case C-191/95). The aim of the legal dispute: the introduction of more effective sanctions for non-compliance with the disclosure obligation.
The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf referred to the European Court of Justice the question of whether the German statutory provision should be interpreted in a way which is not in conformity with Community law to the effect that anyone may demand disclosure (Case C-97/96).
Regulation since 2000:
According to the Capital Companies and Co-Directive Act (KapCoRiLiG), the accounting principles of §§ 264 ff. HGB, which were previously only applicable to corporations, must now also be applied to commercial partnerships without natural persons as general partners (usually GmbH & Co. KG). There are basically two ways to completely avoid the disclosure obligation.
These are:
The assumption of unlimited liability by a natural person in the case of a commercial partnership (so-called full liability solution), ? the preparation of exempting consolidated financial statements in accordance with §§ 264 para. 3, 264b HGB, 5 para. 6 PublG. Administrative fine in case of violation of the disclosure obligation Violations of the disclosure obligation of corporations and corporations & co are punished in an administrative fine procedure upon application by anyone, whereby the range of the administrative fine to be imposed is between 2,500 and 25,000 euros. The administrative fine procedure applies for the first time to financial statements for the 1999 financial year, insofar as corporations are concerned; for corporations & Co, on the other hand, this regulation only comes into effect for financial statements for the 2000 financial year.
Deadlines:
As a rule, disclosure or filing with the commercial register must be made within 12 months of the end of the financial year, § 325 HGB. According to commercial law, the annual financial statements must be prepared six months in advance, § 238 ff. HGB.
Other risks:
Even failure to comply with the deadline for preparing the annual financial statements and a slight delay in filing for insolvency will result in a prior conviction, cf. sections 283 et seq. of the German Criminal Code (StGB). A company director who does not submit the annual financial statements to the commercial register or does not do so in due time is giving an indication with regard to the question of his own personal reliability.
Does the VSH protection no longer apply?
An investment intermediary who does not carry out the simplest considerations and checks, for example a formal check, will quickly find himself in a situation of personal responsibility. If the intermediary is indifferent to this, his VSH insurer will thus more or less promptly raise the argument of a deliberate breach of duty: This would allow the VSH insurer to argue that such conduct by the intermediary is not covered. The knowledge of formal, easily recognisable gaps on the occasion of a plausibility check can, so to speak, be the “blessing and curse” of gained transparency for the intermediary.
Tip for the agent:
Why don’t you check with your VSH insurer to see if ignoring such transparent information is harmless to VSH protection? Status: 24.10.2005
by Dr. Johannes Fiala, Attorney at Law
Our office in Munich
You will find our office at Fasolt-Strasse 7 in Munich, very close to Schloss Nymphenburg. Our team consists of highly motivated attorneys who are available for all the needs of our clients. In special cases, our law firm cooperates with selected experts to represent your interests in the best possible way.
About the author
Dr. Johannes FialaPhD, MBA, MM
Dr. Johannes Fiala has been working for more than 25 years as a lawyer and attorney with his own law firm in Munich. He is intensively involved in real estate, financial law, tax and insurance law. The numerous stages of his professional career enable him to provide his clients with comprehensive advice and to act as a lawyer in the event of disputes.
»More about Dr. Johannes Fiala
On these pages, Dr. Fiala provides information on current legal and economic topics as well as on current political changes that are of social and/or corporate relevance.
Arrange your personal appointment with us.
You are already receiving legal advice and would like a second opinion? In this case please contact Dr. Fiala directly via the following link.
(The first phone call is a free get-to-know-you conversation; without consulting. You will learn what we can do for you & what we need from you in terms of information, documents for a qualified consultation.)
