在「公司法自一九二九年十二月二十六日制定公布以來，歷經十一次修正。資為因應資訊科技時代，順應企業國際化，協助企業提升全球競爭力，追求企業永續發展，並保護股東基本權利，推動建立完善之公司治理制度，營造良好公司法制環境」之立法總說明下，二００五年六月二十二日總統令公布增刪修正條文共十五條之公司法部份修正條文。 近年來電子科技發展迅速，法律制度亦需配合調整，以善用嶄新科技（如網路）所帶來的便利，同時解決此種便利所衍生的問題。在表決權相關法制方面，電子科技之影響無遠弗屆，從會議召開方式、資訊揭露方式、至投票表決方式，均產生相當衝擊，因此如何結合科技與法律，成為公司治理之重要議題。 公司法新增定之通訊投票制度，使股東能更便利行使其表決權，有助於公司治理，而「公司民主」亦因而得以落實，從而值得深入研究。本論文就公司法所增訂之通訊投票制度，加以剖析，輔以與美國及日本立法例之比較，檢視新法內容不合理及不足之處，並進而提出修改之建議，以供下次修法之參考，期使通訊投票制度在未來能更臻完善。 至於立法論上虛擬股東會是否適宜取代實體股東會，虛擬股東會所帶來的時間跟費用的節省也許看起來很吸引人，如果可以不用召開傳統實體股東會，勢必能免除繁瑣的作業程序，節省大量人力、金錢及時間，特別是當議程上的項目並不具爭議性時，但是考慮採取這些程序的公司必須把這些益處跟股東可能反對的潛在負面後果相衡量，也就是股東對於取消傳統股東會，使他們喪失可以接觸經營階層與其溝通的機會，可能會抱持負面觀感，故公司無法只著眼於時間及金錢的節省即貿然考慮採行。然這些危險並不是斷然拒絕虛擬會議可能帶來的益處的理由，尤其是可以使更多股東參與這點，所以仍應在維持現行實體股東會外，結合網路轉播實體集會，且讓遠距收看者也能藉由以電子郵件提出問題參與，加上（或是）同步電子投票，以利用科技便利股東參與股東會，提高股東對股東會之參與。一言以蔽之，如前所述，在股權分散的公開發行公司虛擬會議不應完全取代實體會議，除非能設計出一個電子方式能等同經營者對散戶股東面對面負責(face-to-face accountability)，而且也能提供現行實體會議所具有的商議機會（deliberation），才宜改以虛擬會議取代傳統實體集會之股東會。 / Stockholder meetings are the most important means for corporations to reach decisions, and are also how stockholders participate in the management of corporations, thus it is a significantly important legal issue to make sure stockholders can express their viewpoints of how to run the corporation through exercise of stockholder rights and stockholder meetings. Moreover, it is very common that one person is the stockholder of several or even hundreds of corporations nowadays. Though it is inevitable that several corporations conduct stockholder meetings at the same day for there are far more corporations than the dates capable to conduct stockholder meetings, it is quite obvious that corporation conduct meetings during the same period of time intentionally. It might be a result of preventing some nasty stockholders disturbing meetings through choosing the same day conducting stockholder meetings to decrease the risk, but it deprives other stockholders of attending stockholder meetings and consequently sacrificing their stockholder rights. There is proxy voting for stockholders who are unable to attend stockholder meetings, but it has pitfalls in practice and for stockholders it is not that safe comparing with voting directly. In order to increase the ways for stockholders to vote in stockholder meetings, there is a change in corporation that is to add article 177-1: “The voting power at a shareholders' meeting may be exercised in writing or by way of electronic transmission, provided, however, that the method for exercising the voting power shall be described in the shareholders' meeting notice to be given to the shareholders if the voting power will be exercised in writing or by way of electronic transmission. A shareholder who exercises his/her/its voting power at a shareholders meeting in writing or by way of electronic transmission as set forth in the preceding Paragraph shall be deemed to have attended the said shareholders' meeting in person, but shall be deemed to have waived his/her/its voting power in respective of any extemporary motion(s) and/or the amendment(s) to the contents of the original proposal(s) at the said shareholders' meeting.” Electronic technology has improved a great deal these years, therefore legal system has to change or amend to make use of the new technology e.g. internet as well as solve problems stemmed from new technology. Concerning the regulations of voting right there is a great impact of electronic technology from the way of conducting meetings, to the way of exposing information and voting, thus to combine technology and law is an important issue in corporate governance. Electronic voting has been put into practice in the United States for a long time, but it is not as successful in our country, and to date there has been only one company, Taiwan Integrated Shareholder Service Company, to adopt electronic voting, therefore it is worth studying why The United States can promote electronic voting successfully and then have a better understanding of what obstacles they have encountered initially to prevent our country from making the same mistake.

我國於2005年時，為促進我國公司治理之發展，提升股東行使表決權之便利性以鼓勵股東參與股東會之議決，落實股東民主與股東行動主義之精神，並因應我國上市櫃公司股東會開會日期過度集中之問題，引進於國外行之有年之通訊投票制度，使股東除得選擇親自出席或委託他人出席股東會外，尚得選擇使用書面或電子投票方式行使表決權，立意甚為良善。然此制引進至今，實務上自願採用之公司甚少，使此制度之優點無法充分發揮。 　　為檢討我國通訊投票制度使用率偏低之問題，本文先自公司治理原則之觀點，探討股東參與對公司治理原則而言之意義，並建立通訊投票制度與公司治理原則之關聯，突顯通訊投票制度之價值。其次，介紹美國、英國、日本、歐盟等之通訊投票法制與實務運作情形，以了解國際脈動、發掘我國制度之現存問題，並藉由國外實施通訊投票制度之經驗，反思我國通訊投票制度未來之發展方向。 　　另就我國通訊投票之法制與實務部分，與股東資訊權有關之規範，如我國召集通知之發送或公告時點、召集通知之記載與臨時動議、召集通知之電子化、議事手冊及會議資料之製作與周知方式等，應朝更透明化之方向發展，並應使股東得以更直接之方式獲取相關資訊。另一方面，亦應使符合一定條件之公司負有提供英文版召集通知與議事手冊之義務，以利機構投資人妥適行使表決權。 　　其次，就通訊投票之規範上，公司法第177條之1與第177條之2之規範內容，有諸多過度遷就股務作業之規定，有所不妥，書面或電子投票之方式與作業程序規範密度亦有不足。另在電子投票制度上，未能顧及電子投票方式之即時性與互動性，僅採「事前的」電子投票制度，亦過於保守。此外，與通訊投票相關之制度，如分割行使表決權制度、董監候選人提名制、股東提案權制度等，亦宜一併檢視。 　　本文認為，為符合現今國際潮流、提升我國公司治理、促進電子投票制度之使用，前揭我國規範之未盡之處，未來皆有進行全盤檢討並加以修正之必要。