§ 77a Appointment to organs of companies in which Federation holds majority stake

(1) ʻLimited liability companies in which the Federation holds a majority stakeʼ means limited liability companies with a registered office in Germany

• 1.  the majority of whose shares are held by the Federation or
• 2.  which are large corporations (section 267 (3) of the Commercial Code) and the majority of whose shares are held by companies the majority of whose shares are, in turn, held by the Federation or
• 3.  which generally employ more than 500 people and the majority of whose shares are held by companies the majority of whose shares are, in turn,
• a)  held by the Federation or
• b)  held by companies in respect of which ownership of shares continues in the same manner up to companies the majority of whose shares are held by the Federation.

No account is taken of shares which are held via a special federal fund. Federally owned public-law institutions engaging in a commercial activity are equal to the Federation.

(2) Where a limited liability company in which the Federation holds a majority stake has more than two directors, at least one director must be a woman and at least one director must be a man. The appointment of a director which violates the participation requirement is null and void. Where the participation requirement under sentence 1 applies, there is no obligation to set targets in respect of the management.

(3) Regardless of whether the Co-determination Act, the Act on Co-determination in the Coal, Iron and Steel Industry or the Supplementary Co-determination Act applies, section 96 (2) of the Stock Corporation Act applies accordingly in respect of the composition of the supervisory board of a limited liability company in which the Federation holds a majority stake. There is thus no obligation to set targets.

(4) The Länder may, by way of Land legislation, extend the requirements under subsections (2) and (3) to cover limited liability companies in which, applying subsection (1) accordingly, a Land has a majority stake. In such cases, the statutory regulations and electoral regulations on codetermination in companies in which the Federation holds a majority stake apply accordingly to companies in which a Land holds a majority stake.