quorum

noun · Beschlussfähigkeit

Beschlussfähigkeit for a quorum, but the German default surprises the English drafter, a GmbH Gesellschafterversammlung and an AG Hauptversammlung have no general attendance quorum, they decide on the majority of the votes cast, § 47 GmbHG, § 133 AktG, while the Aufsichtsrat does need one, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG. A real Hauptversammlungs-quorum lives only in the Satzung.

Which translation, when

Beschlussfähigkeitthe capacity of a body to pass valid resolutions, present where enough members take part, the Aufsichtsrat needing at least half and no fewer than three, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG.

Mehrheit der abgegebenen Stimmenthe shareholder-meeting default, no attendance quorum, resolutions carried on the votes cast, § 47 GmbHG, § 133 AktG, so presence is not the German gate.

Why

Quorum assumes a minimum attendance before a body can act, and German applies that assumption unevenly, which is the trap. For shareholder meetings there is as a rule no general attendance quorum at all, a GmbH Gesellschafterversammlung and an AG Hauptversammlung pass resolutions on the majority of the votes cast, § 47 Abs. 1 GmbHG, § 133 Abs. 1 AktG, so a small fraction of the shares present can carry a resolution unless the articles impose their own Präsenzquorum. Boards are different, the Aufsichtsrat is beschlussfähig only if at least half of its members, and no fewer than three, take part, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG, a genuine quorum, and the Vorstand’s rules sit in its Geschäftsordnung. So the English instinct that a meeting is inquorate without a set attendance often does not hold for German shareholder meetings, where the missing thing is not Beschlussfähigkeit as a word but a Präsenzquorum the statute simply does not require. Beschlussfähigkeit carries the idea, Quorum survives as a loanword in some governance texts, and any real attendance threshold for a Hauptversammlung lives in the Satzung, § 133 AktG leaving room for the articles to raise the bar.

Typical mistakes

Shareholder meetings have no default quorum, a GmbH and an AG decide on the majority of the votes cast, § 47 GmbHG, § 133 AktG, so translating an English quorum requirement as a statutory German one invents a threshold only the articles could set.
The Aufsichtsrat does have a quorum, at least half its members and no fewer than three, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG, so board and shareholder-meeting quora follow different rules and must not be merged.
Beschlussfähigkeit is the concept and any Hauptversammlungs-quorum lives in the Satzung, § 133 AktG, so a fixed attendance figure should be traced to the articles, not assumed from statute.

What matters

Meeting-validity questions turn on the body: an Aufsichtsrat is beschlussfähig only with at least half its members and no fewer than three, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG, while a Hauptversammlung has no statutory attendance quorum and decides on the votes cast, § 133 AktG, unless the Satzung says otherwise. The advice that a shareholder meeting was inquorate for low turnout has assumed a German rule the statute does not impose.

Authority

§ 47 GmbHG
§ 133 AktG
§ 108 Abs. 2 AktG

What the machine misses

Quorum comes back as Quorum or a vague Beschlussfähigkeit in machine output without the German surprise, that shareholder meetings usually have no attendance quorum at all and decide on the votes cast, while the Aufsichtsrat does need one, § 108 Abs. 2 AktG. So a translated quorum clause can imply a statutory attendance threshold German shareholder law does not impose, and which only the Satzung could actually supply, leaving the reader to over-read what turnout the meeting really required.

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Examples

the meeting was quorate	die Versammlung war beschlussfähig
quorum requirement	das Präsenzquorum
to lack a quorum	nicht beschlussfähig sein
quorum of the supervisory board	die Beschlussfähigkeit des Aufsichtsrats

More notes on these sections

resolution Beschluss

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