Transnational Corporations and International Law: Accountability in the Global Business Environment (Corporations, Globalisation and the Law Series)

256 Pages·2011·1.22 MB·English

by  Alice De Jonge

Transnational Corporations and International
Law
CORPORATIONS, GLOBALISATION AND THE LAW
Series Editor: Janet Dine, Director, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen
Mary College, University of London, UK
This uniquely positioned monograph series aims to draw together high quality
research work from established and younger scholars on what is an intriguing and
under-researched area of the law. The books will offer insights into a variety of legal
issues that concern corporations operating on the global stage, including interaction
with WTO, international financial institutions and nation states, in both developing
and developed countries. Whilst the underlying foundation of the series will be that
of company law, broadly-defined, authors are encouraged to take an approach that
draws on the work of other social sciences, such as politics, economics and
development studies and to offer an international or comparative perspective where
appropriate. Specific topics to be considered will include corporate governance,
corporate responsibility, taxation and criminal liability, amongst others. The series
will undoubtedly offer an important contribution to legal thinking and to the wider
globalisation debate.
Titles in the series include:
Corporate Governance and China’s H-Share Market
Alice de Jonge
Corporate Rescue Law – An Anglo-American Perspective
Gerard McCormack
Multinational Enterprises and Tort Liabilities
An Interdisciplinary and Comparative Examination
Muzaffer Eroglu
Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility
Edited by Nina Boeger, Rachel Murray and Charlotte Villiers
Corporate Governance in the 21st Century
Japan’s Gradual Transformation
Edited by Luke Nottage, Leon Wolff and Kent Anderson
National Corporate Law in a Globalised Market
The UK Experience in Perspective
David Milman
Transnational Corporations and International Law
Accountability in the Global Business Environment
Alice de Jonge
Transnational
Corporations and
International Law
Accountability in the Global Business
Environment
Alice de Jonge
Department of Business Law and Taxation, Faculty of Business
and Economics, Monash University, Australia
CORPORATIONS, GLOBALISATION AND THE LAW
Edward Elgar
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
©Alice de Jonge 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photo-
copying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010934053
ISBN 978 1 84980 368 7
Typeset by Cambrian Typesetters, Camberley, Surrey
Printed and bound by MPG Books Group, UK
3
0
To Ian

Contents
List of abbreviations viii
1. The corporation: a good tool but a bad master 1
2. Corporations behaving well: voluntary strategies 21
3. The state and the multinational corporation: the investment
relationship 73
4. Extra-territorial legislation and corporate liability 91
5. Corporate criminal liability for extra-territorial harms 127
6. Bringing the TNC under the jurisdiction of international law:
theory and principles 146
7. Bringing the TNC under the jurisdiction of international law:
institutional avenues 167
8. The global firm and the environment 187
9. The International Court of Justice as a global court of appeal 202
Conclusion 209
Bibliography 212
Index 235
vii
Abbreviations
AIB Association of International Business
ASX Australian Securities Exchange
ATCA Alien Tort Claims Act (US)
BIT bilateral investment treaty
CLCC Civil Law Convention on Corruption
COP Communication on Progress
CSR corporate social responsibility
ECOSOC UN Economic and Social Council
EITI Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
EPFI Equator Principles Financial Institution
FDI foreign direct investment
FDIS Final Draft International Standard
FSIA Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (US)
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GRI Global Reporting Initiative
IBAWG International Bar Association Working Group
ICC International Criminal Court
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICL international criminal law
ICSID International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
IFC International Finance Corporation
IFI international financial institution
ILC International Law Commission
ILO International Labour Organization
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ISO WG ISO Working Group
MAI Multilateral Agreement on Investment
MIT multilateral investment treaty
MNE multinational enterprise
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
NCP National Contact Point
NGO non-governmental organization
viii
Abbreviations ix
NGPF Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global
NHRI national human rights institution
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PNG Papua New Guinea
PRI Principles for Responsible Investment
RICO Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (US)
SIF Social Investment Forum
SR social responsibility
SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary-General
TNC transnational corporation
TVPA Torture Victim Protection Act (US)
UN United Nations
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
WHO World Health Organization
WTO World Trade Organization