Criteria for Determining the Duty of Diligence of Independent Directors Under the Reform of the Single-Level System

At present, China has not made clear legislative provisions on the specific connotation and determination criteria of the diligence and due diligence of independent directors, and this legislative gap has led to the lack of uniform and operable legal regulations in reality, which in turn has led to the lack of clear guidelines for independent directors to perform their duties diligently and the requirements of due diligence. How exactly should the specific standard of independent directors’ duty of diligence be seen in China? This paper analyses the problems and reasons in China’s practice and compares them with the relevant system in the United States, so as to answer the standard from several perspectives, including logic, introduction of business judgement rules, and distinction between independent and general directors respectively.