proxy

noun · Vollmacht

Vollmacht for the proxy authority to vote, Stimmrechtsvertreter for the person who holds it, and by proxy is durch Bevollmächtigten, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG in Textform. Proxy is not the general Stellvertreter of everyday agency, it is the meeting-specific voting authority, so Stellvertreter for a proxy card misses the shareholders’-meeting setting and the statutory form.

Which translation, when

Vollmachtthe proxy authority itself, the power to exercise the shareholder’s vote, granted in Textform under § 134 Abs. 3 AktG, the Vollmacht behind every proxy.

Stimmrechtsvertreterthe proxy as person, the one voting on the shareholder’s behalf, often a Stimmrechtsvertreter der Gesellschaft nominated to vote as instructed, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG.

Why

Proxy is the shareholders’-meeting instrument for voting through another, and German splits it into the authority, the person and the form. The authority is die Vollmacht, specifically zur Ausübung des Stimmrechts, and the AG regulates its form, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG requiring Textform for the grant, its revocation and proof unless the articles ease it, a formality the casual English proxy note does not expect, and the GmbH echoes it, § 47 Abs. 3 GmbHG. The person is der Stimmrechtsvertreter or Bevollmächtigte, and companies often offer a Stimmrechtsvertreter der Gesellschaft, a nominee voting as instructed, while banks and intermediaries voting client shares run through § 135 AktG. To vote by proxy is durch einen Bevollmächtigten abstimmen, and the proxy form is das Vollmachtsformular. What proxy is not is the general Stellvertreter of § 164 BGB agency, because proxy here is the narrow meeting-voting authority with its own statutory form, so rendering a proxy card as a Stellvertretung strips the shareholders’-meeting setting and the § 134 formality. And proxy in the sense of the adviser, the Stimmrechtsberater, again names a governance-specific thing the bare word hides.

Typical mistakes

Proxy is not the general Stellvertreter, it is the voting Vollmacht of the shareholders’ meeting, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG, in Textform, so agency vocabulary loses the meeting setting and the statutory form.
The proxy grant has a form requirement, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG wants Textform for grant, revocation and proof unless the articles relax it, so a casually signed proxy may not meet the German rule.
A proxy adviser is der Stimmrechtsberater and intermediary voting runs through § 135 AktG, so proxy must be resolved to the specific thing, not left as a bare loanword.

What matters

Annual-meeting logistics turn on the form: a shareholder voting by proxy grants a Vollmacht zur Stimmrechtsausübung in Textform, § 134 Abs. 3 AktG, often to a Stimmrechtsvertreter der Gesellschaft who votes as instructed. The proxy card translated as a general Vollmacht without the § 134 Textform may fail the very formality the AG imposes.

Authority

§ 134 Abs. 3 AktG
§ 135 AktG
§ 47 Abs. 3 GmbHG

What the machine misses

Proxy arrives as Stellvertreter or the bare Proxy in machine output, and German wants the meeting-specific words, die Vollmacht for the voting authority, der Stimmrechtsvertreter for the holder, with Textform behind the grant. The setting and the formality vanish together, a proxy rendered as general agency loses that this is a shareholders’-meeting vote with a statutory form, so the translated proxy card may authorise nothing the AG will actually accept.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

to vote by proxy	durch Bevollmächtigten abstimmen
proxy form	das Vollmachtsformular
proxy holder	der Stimmrechtsvertreter
proxy adviser	der Stimmrechtsberater

More notes on these sections

resolution Beschluss

quorum Beschlussfähigkeit