On September 23, 2020, at the regular meeting of the Corporate Governance Professional Association (CGPA) members, there was a discussion on updating and actualizing the Corporate Secretary Professional Standard, the first edition of which was developed in 2010.

This document became a guideline for many companies, which introduced the position of the Corporate Secretary into their own models of corporate governance for ten years. Over time, there was an urgent need to update it, taking into account modern global trends in corporate governance and the requirements of Ukraine’s current legislation. The adoption of the new draft law “On Joint-Stock Companies” in the first reading gives special urgency to this work. In particular, there appears a separate section regulating the activity of the corporate secretary. According to the draft law, the corporate secretary’s requirements are set by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission. Thus, there is a need to form a common vision of the role, functions, and tasks of the corporate secretary, his subordination, requirements to candidates for this position, as well as the introduction of new developments in corporate governance – compliance, risk management, environmental, social and governance practices (ESG), etc. – into the Standard.

In order to achieve the set goals, the Working Group was created from the CGPA members: experienced corporate secretaries, lawyers, corporate governance specialists.

The CGPA initiative is implemented with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, within the Integrated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Standards Program in Europe and Central Asia, which is implemented in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. This program aims to create conditions for more sustainable development of companies, optimize their management, and better access to capital that will stimulate economic growth and job creation.