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New
Living Diary
Index
New participatory democracy
Taming
the Corporations
My Welsh socialism
My New Socialist
Settlement
Globalise the left!
Bevan re-visited
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item0033B 632, 633
632 24 February 2003
Taming International Corporations
On 22 February, I was invited to put my company law
reform ideas to a Labour Reform
seminar at the London School of Economics. It was my
Newport Manifesto
that had triggered their interest, and you will find this new article easier to
follow if you have checked it out.
I was challenged as Saturday to explain why the
Labour Party, in terms of popular political appeal, should take seriously my
highly-specialised ideas about company law reform. This is what
I say. This would be the practical political outcome of a successful
international treaty system, for the enforcement of
Inter State Corporate Compliance.
-
Fat-cat abuse
of power by Directors - my transparency proposals,
coupled with the requirements of internal checks-and-balances, would place a
thousand obstacles in the way of management abuse of power.
-
Tax evasion and the abuse of the company system by
criminal networks would be dramatically reduced, organised crime disrupted;
-
Market Denial
- ISCC states would be entitled to deny access to their
markets to non-compliant companies, overriding the WTO treaty - this instrument of market denial
represents an essential reassertion of democratic control over the power of
the corporate sector.
-
Evasive liquidation
- creditors of failed companies could where appropriate
pursue claims against the holding corporations of failed companies, where
the holding corporation had simply allowed its subsidiary to collapse;
-
TU effectiveness
- trade unions would be empowered, to develop as
institutions of the labour market - given open-access to company records, TU
activists would be far better placed to negotiate on behalf of their
members, with greatly increased opportunities for Court challenge;
-
Abuse of Legal "Rights"
- the abuse of property and contract rights should be open to independent
scrutiny -
all international corporations would have to justify their actions as
"reasonable", if challenged by Court action - artificial persons should not
be accorded the same "personal" protection as natural persons, under the
law.
-
Media access would be greatly strengthened -
the best systemic counter to the abuse of power is the oxygen of publicity - the
affairs of all the international corporations would become the
subject-matter of a new arm of international journalism and investigation -
greater publicity would contain the scope for the abuse of corporate power
in every sector.
A new ISCC Treaty system could only be negotiated
internationally, over a period of years. I say that my Labour
Government should convene a new Conference, inviting all 145 members of the WTO
to negotiate a new ISCC Treaty, to complement and modify the present WTO
treaty system.
last Saturday.
Does any of
this inspire you? Drop me a line
Or contribute to the new
JoinWarrenEvans Discussion Group.
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633
24 February 2003
Inter State Corporate Compliance Treaty
The Negotiating Brief
If you have got this far, you
must be serious! In preparing for last Saturday's
Labour Reform LSE Seminar, I
prepared this schedule of the obligations. It would be the task of the
negotiating parties to deliver a treaty embodying the these propositions -
and I accept, that the negotiations could take five years, like the Uruguay
Round which created the World Trade Organisation. It should be
remembered that these constraints would apply only to companies operating
across nation-state boundaries: for any business (whether incorporated or
not) operating solely within the territory of its
jurisdiction-of-origin, the Treaty would generate no new constraints.
This would exempt from its operation the overwhelming majority of the
world's trading enterprises. But any artificial person
(company, corporation) operating across boundaries, on an inter-state basis,
would have to comply with this new Highway Code
of corporate practice.
These are my suggestions...
I New
Treaty System needed The
international corporate sector has grown into a vast, complex network of
“private” organisations, dominating and suborning Governments, avoiding
taxes, oppressing populations, committing crimes and escaping criminal
sanctions – most individual Governments are powerless to counter their abuse
of power – international action constitutes the only thinkable way forward.
The UK Government should take the initiative to convene a new negotiating
Conference.
II New
ISCC Treaty At such a
conference,
UK should initiate a new “trade round” of international inter-state
negotiations, with a view to agreeing the terms of a new
Inter State Corporate
Compliance Treaty - invitations should be sent to all 145
members of the World Trade Organisation - trigger validation to be by 75
ratifications, including 5 of the G7 countries;
III
Treaty Profile, or
“road-map” to cover three categories of obligation –
-
State, or Government, functions
-
Company functions, to be discharged by ISCC-compliant companies
-
Judicial functions, to be discharged throughout member-states
IV
State, or Government, functions
- A.
Market Denial
Each member-State to deny access to its markets to non-compliant
companies: a compliant company would be a company (a) registered in a
member-State jurisdiction and (b) otherwise ISCC-compliant;
- B.
Operate prior
substantive scrutiny of incorporation The creation of a
new abdroid should be
subject to proper prior administrative scrutiny;
- C.
Generic Enforcement
To enforce the ISCC-Treaty throughout its jurisdiction,
both in respect of foreign-registered companies and companies known to be
trading internationally.
V.
Company Functions,
to be discharged by ISCC-compliant companies, i.e. those trading or seeking
to trade in any member-state jurisdiction other than their own;
- A.
Transparency
Compliant companies to afford open access to company records, as
ISCC-required;
- B.
Internal Balance
Compliant companies to adopt internal checks and balances
to counter executive monopoly power within the company, to comply with
ISCC-principles of proper checks-and-balances;
- C.
Trade Embargo
Compliant companies to trade only with other compliant companies.
VI
Judicial Functions
Legislation in every ISCC member-State to enable its Courts -
-
A. To
enforce ISCC-obligations as a matter of local jurisdiction in any
case coming before the national Courts
(query: whether in both civil and
criminal jurisdictions);
-
B.
To remove the
protection of limited liability from any artificial person with a relevant
shareholding in any other artificial person;
-
C.
To annul for
unreasonableness the exercise of any property or contractual right where
vested in an ISCC artificial person.
End rwe
21 February 2003
What do you think? Drop me a line
Or contribute to the new
JoinWarrenEvans Discussion Group.
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