Brussels, 13/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - After the creation of the European forum for corporate enterprise (see EUROPE 8874) and of an expert group on boosting the rights of shareholders (see EUROPE 8940), the Commission is to launch a public consultation lasting until 15 July 2005 on voting rights of shareholders in companies quoted on the stock exchange in a cross-border context. The Commission launched an initial general consultation of shareholder rights in September 2004 (see EUROPE 8787). This revealed that the national legislation of various Member States was still not correctly adapted to a cross-border context. This time, the Commission will focus mainly on the exercise of voting rights. The main issues at play are: the transparency of share loan agreements and the status of the holders of share certificates, postal voting procedures, electronic or proxy voting, the distribution of relevant information before a general assembly and the right of non-resident shareholders to put questions, the removal of share blocking as a condition of taking part in the vote and its replacement with the date of inclusion on the register of shareholders.