ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historic overview of the development of the legislation concerning the disqualification of directors in German law. It analyses the grounds for the automatic disqualification of directors, starting with the disqualification of directors of German private companies and members of the management board of German public companies. The chapter focuses on the disqualification of members of the supervisory board. It discusses banking supervision law, as a specific area with separate legislation including provisions for disqualifying directors. The chapter also provides a brief discussion of grounds for disqualification on application – that is, instances where a person is not automatically disqualified, but can be disqualified. It concludes that a critical discussion of the status quo of the German law on the disqualification of directors is long overdue. The employee representatives of the supervisory board are also subject to personal qualifications which are determined by co-determination laws.
