개정상법상 특수관계인제도의 현황과 그 문제점 (The Legal Problems of Regulatory Scope of the Specially Related Persons under the Commercial Act)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국법정책학회
· 수록지 정보 : 법과정책연구 / 12권 / 4호 / 1669 ~ 1707페이지
· 저자명 : 정준우

초록

개정상법상 특정한 기업관련자가 특수관계인에 해당되느냐의 여부는 각종 규제를 받느냐의 여부에 직결되므로 당사자들에게는 매우 민감한 문제이다. 그런데 개정상법상 특수관계인 관련규정을 살펴보면, 그 개념이 너무 추상적일 뿐만 아니라 광범위하여 정확한 의미와 적용범위를 규명하기가 쉽지 않다. 그리하여 특수관계인에 관련된 규정을 실제사건에 적용함에 있어서는 명확한 근거나 기준의 제시가 어렵고, 다른 한편으론 해석을 둘러싼 새로운 법적 분쟁까지 발생하고 있다. 더욱이 특수관계인에 관련된 규정들은 때때로 헌법이 보장하고 있는 “개인의 재산권과 행사의 자유” 및 “기업의 창의적이고 자유로운 경제활동”을 제약하는 요인으로도 작용하여 위헌성의 논란마저 일고 있다.
개정상법은 다른 경제관련법령에 비해 상대적으로 적은 특수관계인 관련규정을 두고 있다. 그렇지만 상법은 기업의 지배구조와 거래관계에 관한 기본법이므로 실무에 미치는 영향력은 매우 크다. 특히 2009년과 2011년의 개정상법이 기업지배구조에 관련된 (구)증권거래법상의 각종 특례규정을 상법으로 일원화함으로써 실제적인 영향력은 더욱 커졌다. 개정상법상의 특수관계인 관련규정으로는 ① 사외이사의 자격제한, ② 자기거래의 제한, ③ 이해관계자와의 거래제한, ④ 감사위원 선임에서의 의결권제한, ⑤ 주식매수선택권의 부여제한 등에 관한 규정을 들 수 있다. 이하에서는 이러한 규정을 중심으로 특수관계인의 주요내용과 개별적 사항에 관한 각종 선행연구들의 내용을 검토하면서 특수관계인제도에 내포된 문제점을 종합적으로 지적하고 그에 대한 합리적인 대안을 제시하였다.

영어초록

Under the Commercial Act amended 2011, we can find the term of ‘specially related persons’ in lots of regulations of corporate governance and dealings. First, the stock option shall not be granted to any of the following persons: 1) a stockholder who holds 10/100 or more of the total outstanding shares of the company excluding non-voting shares, 2) a person who actually exercises influence over major management matters of the company, such as appointment or dismissal of directors, auditors, 3) the spouse and lineal ascendents or descendents of a person falling under subparagraph 1) or 2)(§340-2(2)).
Second, an outside director of a listed company shall not fall under any of the following subparagraphs as well as any subparagraph of Article 382 (3), and if he/she falls under any of the following subparagraphs, he/she shall be removed from his/her office: 1) a minor, incompetent, or quasi-incompetent, 2) a person adjudicated bankrupt and who has not yet reinstated, 3) a person for whom two years have not yet elapsed since his or her imprisonment without prison labor or a heavier punishment was completely executed or exempted, 4) a person for whom two years have not yet elapsed since he was dismissed or removed from office after he/she violated an Act separately determined by Presidential Decree, 5) in cases where a shareholder of the listed company and persons who have a special relationship with the shareholder as prescribed by Presidential Decree(hereinafter referred to as “specially related persons”) own the largest number of shares, based on the total number of issued and outstanding shares other than nonvoting shares, such shareholder (hereinafter referred to as the “largest shareholder”) and his/her specially related persons, 6) a shareholder who owns more than 10/100 of the total number of issued and outstanding shares other than nonvoting shares for his/her own account regardless of in whose name the shares are held, or exerts de facto influence on important matters related to the management of the listed company, including the appointment and dismissal of directors, executive directors or auditors, and his/her spouse, lineal ascendants and lineal descendants (hereinafter referred to as a “major shareholder”), 7) a person determined by Presidential Decree, who has difficulty faithfully performing any of his/her duty as an outside director, or who may have an influence on the management of the listed company(§542-8(2)).
Third, no listed company shall grant credit (referring to lease of property with economic value, including money, guarantees for the performance of obligations, purchase of securities intended for supporting funds, or other direct or indirect transactions determined by Presidential Decree accompanying credit risk on the transactions) to or for a person who falls under any of the following subparagraphs: 1) major shareholders and their specially related persons, 2) directors (including persons who fall under any of the subparagraphs of Article 401-2 (1)) and executive directors, 3) auditors(§542-9(1)).
Fourth, any person who falls under any of the following subparagraphs shall not be a full-time auditor for a listed company, and shall be removed from his/her position as full-time auditor in any of the following cases: 1) a person who falls under Article 542-8 (2) 1 through 4 and 6, 2) directors, executive directors and employees who are engaged in the regular business of the company concerned, or directors, executive directors and employees who have engaged in the regular business of the company concerned within two years: Provided, that directors who hold office or have had office as members of the audit committee under this section shall be excluded, 3) a person determined by Presidential Decree who may have an influence on the management of the company, except as provided for by subparagraphs 1 and 2(§542-10(2)) under the Commercial Act amended 2011.
Finally, in cases where the total amount of voting stocks of a listed company held by the largest shareholder, his/her specially related persons, and other persons determined by Presidential Decree exceeds 3/100 of the total number of shares issued and outstanding, excluding nonvoting stocks, such shareholder may not exercise his/her voting rights on the stocks in excess when appointing or dismissing members of the audit committee who are neither auditors nor outside directors: provided, that a lower ratio o(§542-12(3)).
But there are many problems related with provisions of appointment of outside directors, transactions with interested persons including major shareholders, full time auditors, constitution, etc. of audit committee. In this paper, thus, I have investigated the problems of the specially related persons, and suggested settlement methods to solve the problems of provisions about specially related persons under the Commercial Code amended 2011.

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