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Article

31 Jan 2003

Author:
Halina Ward, International Institute for Environment and Development

[PDF] Legal Issues in Corporate Citizenship

Mandatory legislation on various aspects of business transparency is emerging around the world. It can form part of company law, environmental regulation, or tailored legislation for institutional investors or on social and environmental reporting. Pressure for enhanced public sector accountability has also given rise to calls for company reporting on revenues paid to host government by companies in the extractive industries...A new wave of legal actions – mostly in US courts, but also in some EU countries – is testing the boundaries of existing legal principles in relation to some of the most difficult issues of the CSR agenda. For example, a series of cases in the US, France and Belgium are testing how fundamental principles of international law – particularly human rights law – apply to parent companies of multinational corporate groups.

Part of the following timelines

Financial Times article: Multinational firms increasingly facing legal accountability for their social & environmental conduct overseas

Rio Tinto lawsuit (re Papua New Guinea)

ExxonMobil lawsuit (re Aceh)

Talisman lawsuit (re Sudan)

Apartheid reparations lawsuits (re So. Africa)

Cape/Gencor lawsuits (re So. Africa)

U.S. apparel cos. lawsuit (re Saipan)

Cambior lawsuit (re Omai Gold mine, filed in Canada)

Nike lawsuit (Kasky v Nike, re denial of labour abuses)

Unocal lawsuit (re Myanmar)

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