Legal Q&A · Company & shareholders

Can s.r.o. shareholders decide without a general meeting, by written resolution?

Law as at 26 September 2026

Short answer

Yes. The Commercial Code permits decisions outside a general meeting. A managing director or entitled shareholder circulates a draft resolution with a deadline for written responses. A shareholder who does not respond in time is treated as voting against, and the majority is calculated from all votes in the company. For decisions requiring notarial certification of the meeting proceedings, such as appointment or removal of a managing director, the law does not expressly address written resolutions; in our interpretation, no notarial deed is required for them, but we recommend assessing the procedure in advance.

The shareholders live in three cities, one is abroad long-term, and finding a meeting date for a single resolution makes little sense. The Commercial Code provides a procedure: decision-making outside a general meeting, commonly called per rollam. It has special vote-counting rules and risks to consider.

How written voting works

A draft resolution is submitted to shareholders by a managing director, the supervisory board, or one or more shareholders whose contributions represent at least 10% of share capital (Section 130 of the Commercial Code). The memorandum may grant this right to a smaller shareholder too. The draft specifies a deadline for written responses. The law does not set its length; the proposer or memorandum does. Shareholders send responses to the registered office, and the directors then notify all shareholders of the results. Improvised email voting without support in the memorandum often leads to validity disputes, so establish the rules beforehand.

Silence means no, and every vote counts

If a shareholder does not respond within the deadline, they are deemed to disagree. […] The majority is calculated from the total votes belonging to all shareholders.

— Section 130 of the Commercial Code, unofficial translation

At a general meeting, a simple majority of the votes of shareholders present is sufficient unless the law or memorandum requires more (Section 127(3)). Written voting is stricter: the majority is always calculated from all votes in the company, and a silent shareholder counts as voting against. A proposal that would pass comfortably at a meeting may therefore fail in writing because shareholders are inactive. Qualified majorities required by law or the memorandum apply equally to written voting.

Decisions that require a notary at a meeting

For certain decisions, the law requires the meeting proceedings to be certified by a notary in a notarial deed (Section 127a(4)): appointment or removal of a managing director, setting a different ratio of shareholder votes, and capital changes altering the proportions of business shares. This requirement is tied to the proceedings of a general meeting; the provision on decisions outside a meeting (Section 130) does not regulate the form of written voting, and the law does not expressly say whether a notarial deed is also required for written resolutions. In our interpretation, no notarial deed is required for a written resolution. As this is an interpretation rather than an express rule, we recommend assessing the procedure in advance for any decision that will be entered in the Commercial Register; if you want to avoid a dispute about form, a general meeting attended by a notary remains an option. Consent to a business share transfer is an ordinary resolution and may be adopted in writing. The strict form applies to the transfer agreement itself, which must be a notarial deed or an agreement authorised by a lawyer (Section 115(4)).

When the voting procedure is questionable

Procedural defects, such as failing to send the proposal to every shareholder, an unclear deadline or miscounted votes, lead to disputes over validity. We explain challenges in invalidity of a general meeting resolution. If the only problem is a shareholder’s inability to attend, a proxy is another alternative; see representation at a general meeting.

How we can help

We prepare the draft resolution, deadline instructions and vote assessment through our general meeting service. We can establish written voting rules directly in the memorandum through s.r.o. corporate documentation. Companies making remote decisions regularly can use our external legal department. Contact us before circulating the proposal: correcting a flawed vote costs more than preparing it properly.

This answer provides general information on the law as at 26 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.

More legal questions

All questions and answers
  1. Can I contribute my work to the company instead of money? No. Share capital contributions may consist of money or assets with a determinable economic value. The law expressly prohibits contributions consisting of a promise to perform work or provide services (Section 59(2) of the Commercial Code). Future work must be rewarded another way: allocation of ownership rights, vesting in a shareholders’ agreement, options or shares with special rights.
  2. What is a simple joint-stock company, and who is it suitable for? A simple joint-stock company (j. s. a.) is a capital company aimed mainly at startups. Share capital starts at €1, even a single individual can establish it, and it issues shares, including shares with special profit, voting or information rights. The founding document must take the form of a notarial deed or a document authorised by an attorney, the capital is paid up before incorporation and the shares are issued through the Central Securities Depository.
  3. An investor wants drag-along and tag-along rights in the agreement. What do they mean? Drag-along is a right to require a share transfer: when selling the company, the majority shareholder can require the minority to sell too, so the buyer acquires the whole company. Tag-along is the corresponding minority right to join a sale on the same terms. Both have statutory rules for a simple joint-stock company and can be registered to bind legal successors. In an s.r.o., they operate only contractually.
  4. I am transferring my share to my brother. Do I need the other shareholders’ consent? No. The fact that the acquirer is a close person, such as a brother who is also a shareholder, does not change the consent requirement. Transfer to another shareholder normally requires general meeting consent unless the memorandum provides otherwise. The Civil Code’s pre-emption exception for close persons does not apply to business shares; their transfer is separately regulated by the Commercial Code.

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Mgr. Patrik Tulinský, LL.M. Czech and Slovak attorney · SAK 300422 · ČAK 19654

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