獨立董事財報不實民事責任之再思考——以主觀要件為中心

Rethinking the Civil Liability of False Financial Statement for Independent Directors: Focusing on the Element of Fault

獨立董事制度在我國現階段上市上櫃公司的公司治理發展中，扮演關鍵的角色，近年來獨立董事的跳船潮，已逐漸凸顯出我國對於獨立董事之法律責任風險，在法制規範與法院實務運作方面，應有重新思考的空間。本文聚焦於獨立董事最大法律風險類型的財務報告不實民事責任，從比較法與實證研究的觀點，就我國與美國獨立董事財報不實之相關法律規範、法院判決實證研究，以及財報不實之免責抗辯規範與實務判決，進行分析與比較，發現我國獨立董事財報不實的民事責任，實較美國法上獨立董事的相關責任更為嚴格。因此，本文在研究分析獨立董事與會計師擔任財務報告正確性守門人角色的定位、現行相關民事法律責任的合理性，以及制度調整的可能疑慮後，提出修正我國證交法第20條之1的建議，將獨立董事財報不實的民事責任，由「推定過失」責任調整為「過失」責任，以期就獨立董事財報不實的民事法律責任，提供一個較衡平的設計。

Independent director mechanism plays a crucial role in the development of corporate governance at current stage in Taiwan. However, the wave of resignation of independent directors from the board in recent years has highlighted the potential problem of imbalanced legal liabilities imposed on independent directors while also providing an opportunity for rethinking the legal liabilities of independent directors. This paper focuses on the civil liability of independent directors for false financial statements—the highest risk faced by the said subjects (according to the empirical study)—in Taiwan. From a comparative perspective, this research explores and analyzes the relevant laws and court decisions regarding independent director liability—especially on the false financial statements—both in Taiwan and the U.S. and discovers that the civil liability of independent directors for false financial statements in Taiwan is stricter than its counterpart in the U.S. After studying the roles of financial statement gatekeepers played by independent directors and accountants, the appropriateness of existing legal liability for false financial statements, and the possible challenges for future reform, an amendment to the Article 20-1 of the Taiwan Securities Exchange Act is proposed which changes the standard of “presumption of negligence” to “negligence” in order to reduce the exposure of civil liability of independent directors for false financial statements.