Dear All,
The Guernsey Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Resolution
To amend Article 13 of the Articles of Association to read as follows (with the amendment shown in bold type):
“13. The Chamber shall hold a general meeting every year as its annual general meeting at such time
and place including partly (but not wholly) by means of electronic facility or facilities as may be
determined by the Council, and shall specify the meeting as such in the notice calling it.”
As you will have noted, the AGM was scheduled to be held on 18 June 2020. In light of the current Covid situation, the Executive Board recently considered whether or not to go ahead with the AGM given the current restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and the constitutional requirements under Chamber’s Memorandum and Articles, bearing in mind also the important social element to the AGM. While Guernsey has made extraordinary progress in battling the pandemic, at present we are still restricted in the number of people allowed to gather together in one place.
At present the Memorandum and Articles do not allow us to hold any element of the AGM (or any other general meeting) virtually. Members are able to vote by proxy and on current public health guidelines it is possible that we could have enough people present to give us a quorum and pass votes. However, as a key part of any AGM is the opportunity to engage in discussion, it is felt that an AGM held on this limited basis would not be very satisfactory. For that reason the Executive Board has decided to postpone the AGM to 15 July 2020 at 4:30pm in the Market Building unit that was previously HMV. On that date the customary business of the AGM will be considered including election of members of the Executive Board. We will also be asking members to consider an updated version of the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
In the meantime, the Executive Board would like to utilise the existing 18 June date for an Extraordinary General Meeting. The reason for doing so is that we would like to introduce two minor changes to the Articles of Association now. The first is to enable us to hold meetings virtually and the second is to reduce the period of notice for AGMs to 4 weeks. These two changes will give us more flexibility should we have any issues in proceeding on 15 July 2020 for any reasons, such as revised public health guidelines.
The EGM on 18 June at 4:00pm will be held at Guernsey Chamber of Commerce, Business Development Centre, Markets Inner Street, St Peter Port, GY11HE. Due to the current health situation we are requesting that any person intending to be present at the EGM notifies Guernsey Chamber by emailing office@guernseychamber.com with your name and telephone number so that we can ensure compliance with public health guidelines and have insight into potential numbers.
Accordingly the existing AGM will be converted to an EGM – notice has already been given and the resolution to amend the Articles of Association can be seen at the beginning of this article. If you require a proxy form please click the link at the foot of this article to download the form. Please return the completed form via email to office@guernseychamber.com for forwarding to Barrie Baxter, Chamber President. If you are keen to attend in person please contact the Office first so that we can ensure compliance with public health guidelines.
The Executive Board thanks all members for their outstanding support during the outbreak and looks forward to seeing you all soon.
With best regards.
Barrie
Click here to download EGM proxy form—> Guernsey Chamber Form of Proxy
