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8/2/2019 ECCHR European Cases ENG
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Prerequisites or the successul use o legal instru-ments against transnational corporation and board
members responsible or human rights violations is
both a careul analysis o the legal situation in the
aected jurisdictions and a systematic analysis o
previous legal practice.
Up to now, there were no attempts at the European
level to systematically record and evaluate procee-
dings concerned with human rights violations o
corporations with headquarters in Europe. Some
databases record proceedings across Europe5, butthese databases neither record all proceedings,
nor do they provide an analysis o the proceedings.
The present study o ECCHR aims to remedy this
unsatisactory situation. However, our intention is not
to permanently maintain and update this database,
but rather to review and analyze previous legal work
in order to learn lessons or uture cases.
The present study addresses the ollowing questions:
Are some European jurisdictions particularly sui-
table to hold transnational corporations legally res-
ponsible or human rights violations?
Are there any particularly promising case-scenarios?
What are the typical problems of holding transnatio-
nal corporations legally accountable or their actions?
2. Methodology
The European Cases Database comprises all cases
which were made known through publications and
inquiries at human rights organizations, and which
comply with the ollowing criteria:
a) The cases are concerned with human rights
violations committed by transnational corporations
or their employees.
b) The cases are related to Europe.
c) The cases entail at least one lawsuit.
EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS
ECCHR! CASES
EuropEan CasEs DatabasEI. Introduction
1. Objective ECCHR European
Cases Database
The European Center or Constitutional and Human
Rights (ECCHR) aims to protect human rights by
legal means and to hold those responsible or human
rights violations legally accountable.
Our task is to resolve human rights violations, give
victims access to legal remedies, and provide them
with compensation and justice. Traditional concep-
tualizations ocus on the human rights violations
o states. In todays world, however, human rights
are increasingly endangered by other actors, such
as transnational corporations1, and thus become
subject to public debate.
Nowadays, the earnings o several transnational cor-
porations exceed the GDP o some states.2 Hence,
these corporations become increasingly powerul
and challenge states in certain core dimensions.
Particularly in regions with political and economical
instabilities, transnational corporations can have a
substantial impact on economic, ecological, politi-
cal, social and cultural spheres. This impact oten
includes the violation o political and civil as well as
economical, social and cultural human rights. In the
opinion o ECCHR, other civil society organizations
and parts o academia, legal responsibilities ariserom the actual power o transnational corpora-
tions. The responsibility to respect human rights is
independent o the obligations o states3, as John
Ruggie, Special Representative o the UN Secretary-
General on Business and Human Rights, stressed
in his recent report.4
As a European organization, ECCHR aims to identify
human rights violations o European corporations
and tries to hold these corporations responsible or
their actions.
8/2/2019 ECCHR European Cases ENG
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All proceedings are recorded by means of a cohe-
rent scheme in order to guarantee a basic level o
comparability despite obvious heterogeneities in
regard to jurisdictions and cases. Hence, in each
case the aected jurisdiction and the respectiveeld o law are listed separately. The actual case is
displayed in its dierent proceedings, and despite
the scarcity o sources (in some cases only secon-
dary sources were available), the European Cases
Database provides legal analyses and legal outlooks.
All cases are supplemented with le names and
ocial case names in order to enable practitioners
and the interested public to easily use the database.
This applies to the list o sources as well.
All publicly available sources, for instance pub-lished verdicts, academic essays, inormation o
cooperating lawyers and civil society organizations,
reports o human rights organizations and media
coverage, have been used in order to record as
many proceedings as possible. As already menti-
oned, in some cases only secondary sources were
available whereore it was not always possible to
veriy testimony o third Parties by means o court
documents. Reerences are provided or all inor-
mation in order to make the study as traceable and
transparent as possible.
II. Analysis
The ollowing analysis provides an overview o
Europe-related proceedings against transnational
corporations on the basis o human rights violations.
Subsequently, typical patterns o human rights vi-
olations through transnational corporations will be
revealed. The ECCHR European Cases Databaseprovides urther inormation in regard to each case.
7
Currently8, the European Cases Database is com-
prised o 69 lawsuits, which can be assigned to
46 cases.
1. Number o Proceedings
As compared with numerous reports of civil soci-
ety organizations about human rights violations o
transnational corporations, 69 proceedings9 appear
to be rather small in number.10
We consider a human rights violation to be the viola-
tion o a right confrmed by the Universal Declaration
o Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant
on Economical, Social and Cultural Rights, as wellas the European Convention on Human Rights.
Environmental crimes are recorded as ar as they
constitute human rights violations, or instance, i
they aect the right to lie and physical integrity.6
A relation to Europe is given i proceedings take
place under the jurisdiction o a European country,
for instance a French criminal court. A relation to
Europe is also given i one o the Parties involved
(plainti or respondent) is European, i a legal entity
(or instance a transnational corporation) has its
headquarters in Europe, or i the action in question
took place in Europe.
The restriction o the database to European pro-
ceedings can be explained by the act that ECCHR
is a European organization and that US-American
academia (besides Europe, the US is the second
ocal point o the legal debate about human rights
violations o transnational corporations) deals much
more intensively with current US-proceedings.
Proceedings comprise both national proceedings
(criminal proceedings, civil proceedings etc.) and
international proceedings (or instance under the
jurisdiction o the International Tribunal o the Law
of the Sea). Although so-called soft law mecha-
nisms, or instance the OECD- complaints, are quite
similar to regular court proceedings; they are not
proceedings in the proper meaning o the word and
are thereore not recorded.
It is common practice that one case entails multiple
proceedings consecutively or even in parallel with
one another. This is possible i victims and supportive
organizations take dierent legal actions and/or take
legal actions in multiple jurisdictions.
The so-called Mercedes Benz-Case, concerned with
the disappearance o several trade unionists during
the military dictatorship in Argentina, exemplies
this practice. This case entailed three proceedings: a
criminal proceeding in Argentina, a criminal procee-
ding in Germany and a civil proceeding in the US.
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Europe. In Latin America and Europe, many envi-
ronmentally-related human rights violations were
documented.13
4. Thematic Focus o Proceedings
Thematically, the majority o cases can be assigned
to one o three categories:
(1) War crimes, genocide and crimes against huma-
nity (most o them dealing with crimes committed
under the Nazi regime rom 1933-1945)
(2) Cases concerning the environment
(or instance: contamination o water and soil; ge-netically modied ood)
(3) Cases concerning labor
(or instance: inhumane working conditions, perse-
cution o trade unionists; child labor; orced labor)
5. Patterns o Human Rights Violations
Three cases (Kouwenhouven, van Anraat, and Ndas-
hykirwa & Nzabonimana) are concerned with war
crimes regarding arms trade in armed conficts.
Outside o confict situations, the right to lie, and
the right to liberty and the security of persons (Art.
2(5) ECHR; Art. 3 UDHR) are often violated through
homicide, assault and battery. Health deects resul-
ting rom environmental pollution are also subsumed
in this category.14
In regard to child labor, orced labor, disappearance
o trade unionists, and inhumane working conditions,several human rights are violated: the Prohibition o
Slavery / Forced Labor (Art. 4 ECHR; Art. 4 UDHR),
the Prohibition o Torture / Inhuman and Degrading
Treatment (Art. 3 ECHR; Art. 5 UDHR), the Principles
of Equality (Art. 7, 14 ECHR; Art. 2, 23 UDHR), the
Right to Rest and Leisure (Art. 24 UDHR), the Free-
dom o Movement and Residence, respectively the
Protection against Disappearance (Art. 13 UDHR),
the Freedom of Expression (Art. 10 ECHR; Art. 19
UDHR), and the Freedom of Assembly (Art. 11
ECHR; Art. 17 UDHR).
However, this number can partly be explained by
considering class actions with up to ten thousand
plaintis, or instance the English civil proceeding in
the case Tragura Beheer. In cases o class actions,
many victims are represented in one proceeding.Unortunately, the possibility o class actions is re-
stricted or even absent in some European countries,
such as in Germany.11
2. Regional Focus o Proceedings
Even in European cases, the proceedings oten take
place in the US.
The reason for this stems from the Alien Tort ClaimsAct (ATCA), a US statute enacted in 1789.12 Accor-
ding to the ATCA, US district courts have jurisdiction
over civil proceedings in which individuals assert
violations o international (customary) law. Thereby,
it is irrelevant where the human rights violation took
place, as long as the violation is severe enough to
constitute the perpetrator as an enemy o mankind,
a hostis humani generis. After a long and progres-
sive legal development in regard to responsibilities
of individuals for human rights violations, the ATCA
was or the rst time extended to transnational cor-
porations in the case Unocal/Burma (USA) 1997.
In Europe, most proceedings against transnational
corporations take place in the Netherlands, France,
and Great Britain. However, it is difcult to conclude
that this is due to a particularly benefcial legal situati-
on in these jurisdictions. Whether or not a proceeding
takes place is oten due to the actors involved. Not all
civil society representatives working on human rights
and transnational corporations regard recourse tolegal action to be the best approach. In some regions,
the approach to enorce human rights by taking legal
actions is simply more prominent than in others.
3. Regional Focus o HumanRights Violations
Apart from cases dealing with the Nazi regime (1933-
1945), the majority o human rights violations took
place in Africa, followed by Latin America and then
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a. Regarding criminal law, the legal situation is
incoherent within Europe.
In countries like Germany, it is generally impossible
to initiate criminal proceedings against corporationsas a whole, since German law does not provide or
criminal responsibility o corporations.
In Great Britain, corporations have a duty to report
according to the 2003 Corporate Responsibility Act.16
Thus, corporations are obliged to report regularly
about their business activities.
In other countries, corporations have ull criminal
responsibility, or instance in Switzerland (Swiss
Criminal Code) and Austria (Austrian Federal Code ofCriminal Responsibility of Associations).17 However,
even in these countries the regulations are oten not
applied. In Switzerland, there are three reasons or
this. Firstly, corporate responsibility is secondary to
individual responsibility. Secondly, the constituent ele-
ment o organized irresponsibility has to be present.
Thirdly, a lack o organization at the corporations
headquarters has to be demonstrated.18There must
be legal evidence or all three elements. Moreover,
law enorcement agencies are oten hesitant to deal
with these cases, so the claimant has to provide the
evidence. This requires personal as well as organi-
zational and nancial resources, which claimants
and their representatives do not have in most cases.
b. Regarding civil law, there is no such law as the
American Alien Tort Claims Act, connecting a liability
in tort with violations o international law. Thereo-
re, one has to revert to compensation rules rom
regular civil law, which are not adjusted to deal with
transnational relations in general, and human rightsproblems in particular.
Moreover, countries with a common law tradition have
the problem o lengthy procedural struggles, due to
the so-called Forum Non Conveniens Doctrine.19
On the basis of this doctrine, British and American
courts oten claimed to not be responsible in cases
o human rights violation that took place on another
states territory.
Contrarily, civil law countries do not witness lengthy
struggles or jurisdiction, as the question o juris-
The Nestl-Case provides an extreme example or
this pattern of human rights violations. According to
representatives o the victims, Malian children were
kidnapped and brought to Cote DIvoire, where they
were violently orced to work on cacao plantations wi-thout payment. Hence, not only were the reedom o
movement and residence and the protection against
disappearance violated, but also the prohibition o
slavery and orced labor.
6. Status Quo o the Proceedings
More than one hal o the recorded cases are already
closed, some o them just recently (or instance: the
case Tragura Beheer [Cote DIvoire] September
2008).
The other proceedings are still pending, some already
on appeal (or instance: the case Kouvenhoven, the
Mercedes Benz case, the case Watermeters/ Johan-
nesburg and the French case Total/ Gul von Biskaya).
The cases Neumann- Kaee Group (Mubende),
Aurul, AngloPlatinum, and Total/ Gulf of Biskaya are
expected to be completed soon.
The plaintis prospects o receiving nancial com-
pensation by taking legal action are rather small.
Many proceedings are supported by developmental
agencies, human rights organizations, and trade
unions, for instance FIAN in the case Neumann/
Kaffee Group (Mubende). Apart from Greenpeace
(in the cases Total/ Russia, Total/ Gul o Biskaya,
Euronav), civil society organizations did not appear
themselves as plaintis.15
Next, typical problems o holding transnational corpo-rations legally accountable or human rights violations
will be analyzed.
7. Legal Situation and ImplementationInsufcient in Europe
In Europe, the legal systems are not adjusted to
deal with human rights violations o transnational
corporations and it is thus dicult to adequately
address them in legal ora. This is true or both civil
proceedings and criminal proceedings.
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This is true or the legal relation o a corporation and
its suppliers, as well as the legal attribution o acts
o subsidiary companies to the parent company.
Germany, or instance, applies the so-called princip-le o separation, according to which parent compa-
nies and their subsidiaries are legally independent
rom each other. The parent company oten reers
to this principle when a daughter company o the
transnational corporation commits a human rights
violation. Despite the act that European headquar-
ters oten ully control the subsidiaries and want
consumers to perceive the entire company as one
entity with uniorm products, it is oten impossible to
legally attribute human rights violations o subsidiary
companies in the global south to parent companiesin Europe. However, the principle o separation does
not apply regarding the relation o transnational
corporations and their suppliers. Thus, it is easier to
hold suppliers legally accountable than subsidiaries.
9. Difculties in Attributing
Legal Breaches in CasesConcerning the Environment
Cases concerning the environment are oten proble-
matic in regard to the attribution o breaches o duty.
As in many cases, accidents caused environmental
disasters which in turn caused physical injuries and
the death o human beings (Total/ Gul o Biskaya,
Amoco Cadiz, Total/ France, Bayer/Peru, Boliden
Shell/ Brazil, Aurul, Sellaeld). In such cases, the
proo o negligence o a corporation, respective
to its employees, is crucially important (i.e. the
attribution o breaches o duty.) In many cases, the
duty to inormation (Sellaeld-Case) or the duty omaintenance (Total/ France, Total/ Gul o Biskaya,
Boliden, Total/ Russia) is aected.
10. Court-Imposed Sanctions
It is difcult to compare the scale o compensations
and penalties as dierent legal systems provide
or a dierent extent o compensations and penal-
ties (sometimes just symbolically, or instance 680
Euros or each joint plainti in the Netherlands;
diction is clearly structured by law. However, in
countries like Germany, procedural regulations oten
oreclose the application o German law.20
Hence,
the theoretical possibility o receiving compensa-
tion oten has no practical relevance i the case istransnational in nature.
Furthermore, recent European regulations regarding
the question o which national law is applicable in
cases in which several jurisdictions are concerned
might worsen the plaintiffs situation. According to
the Rome-II-Regulation,21
the law o the state in
which the damage occurs is applicable, not the
law o the state in which the damage was caused.
Decisions leading to human rights violations are
oten taken in Europe, as transnational corpora-
tions have their headquarters in Europe. The actual
human rights violations, however, occur in other
countries, mostly in the global south. Consequent-
ly, the law o European countries is not applicable
in these cases. Thus, recourse to legal actions
becomes more dicult as legal regulations in the
global south are oten less strict than the regulati-
ons o European countries. It is dicult to predict
how European regulations will impact the work o
European courts.
8. Proceedings againstIndividuals more Successul
Proceedings against individuals were more suc-
cessul than proceedings against legal entities,
like transnational corporations. Regarding criminal
law, this is due to a lack in criminal responsibility
o corporations in some European countries. Inthese countries, criminal responsibility applies to
individuals only.
Regarding civil law, it is oten dicult to attribute
harmul acts to the accused corporations. The so-
called corporate veil, i.e. the complex corporate
structure, eectively protects transnational corpo-
rations as it makes it extremely dicult to legally
attribute responsibility or actions and decisions
within a corporation. That makes it dicult to hold
corporations liable or their actions.
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human rights are regularly violated by private actors
in the global economy. However, in these cases it is
oten impossible to take legal action when it comes
to serious human rights violations (i.e. breaches o
international criminal law.) Moreover, it is extremelydicult to assert violations o economical, social
and cultural human rights.
The guiding questions mentioned in the beginning
can only partly be answered due to the limited
number o proceedings.
Undoubtedly, the main diculties in the assertion
o human rights violations are the attribution o
human rights violations to corporations as well as
the proo a culpable breach o duty.
Even though the database reveals a regional ac-
cumulation o proceedings in Great Britain, the
Netherlands and France, it is dicult to conclude
that one European jurisdiction is particularly suitable
to hold transnational corporations legally responsible
or the liability o human rights violations. Even the
proceedings that took place revealed difculties and
did not always end in adequate compensation or
the victims. Moreover, there are not enough procee-
dings to draw statistical conclusions. The regional
accumulation o proceedings is at least partly due
to the strategies o the organizations involved, as
some organizations preer to take political rather
than legal action.
The ATCA proceedings in the US only partly mitigate
the deciencies in existing law. For two reasons,
legal proceedings in the US do not provide an ade-
quate and permanent remedy or the insucient
situation in Europe. Firstly, it is dicult to asserteconomical, social and cultural human rights in
the US. Secondly, recent decisions o US courts
indicate a shit in judicature in avor o transnational
corporations.
This unsatisactory situation has to be improved
through changes in European legal systems. Trans-
national corporations have to be legally accountable
or human rights violations. The development o a
uniorm and coherent criminal law o corporations
and enterprises would contribute to such eorts.
van Anraat-Case). Moreover, the magnitude of the
violations diers rom case to case and the num-
ber o plaintis in the case o class actions diers
substantially.
The transnational corporations Total,
22Bayer, and
Shell-Group are not the only subjects o several
public campaigns, but also appear at least ve
times in the recorded proceedings. These three
corporations together are involved in more than one
ourth o all recorded proceedings.23
The imposed
penalties are insufcient to deter these corporations
rom urther human rights violations.
The case Total/ France extensively demonstrates this
phenomenon. As a consequence of twelve yearso inadequate maintenance, an explosion let six
persons dead and one person badly injured. Those
responsible or the accident were only sentenced
to 18 months on probation and ned 4.500. The
company Total, however, received 400 million US$
rom its insurance as compensation or lost prots
and to rebuild the destroyed acility.
III. Conclusions
Currently, European legal systems do not provide
comprehensive protection rom human rights vio-
lations o transnational corporations. Moreover, the
implementation o existing law through courts and
law enorcement agencies is insucient. Neither
existing law nor law enorcement agencies and
courts are adjusted to deal with human rights vi-
olations through compensation and criminal pro-
ceedings. The aorementioned diculty in legally
attributing harmul acts to European corporationsdemonstrates this problem. Traditional legal inst-
ruments have difculties dealing with transnational
business activities, diverse legal states o corpora-
tions, opaque corporate structures and complicated
supplier conditions.
European legal systems do not address Europes
societal realities and the structures o a rapidly
globalizing world economy. Trac accidents and
breaches o contract constitute everyday violations o
rights leading to claims or compensations. Likewise,
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ment o the law, and are thereore indispensible in
tackling existing legal loopholes and insucienci-
es. In particular, the enorcement o economical,
social and cultural human rights should get more
attention, as debates too oten ocus exclusively oninternational crimes.
Moreover, the work on single cases enables victims
o human rights violations to become prosecutors.
This remains an important personal and political
implication, despite the obvious shortcomings o
current legal instruments.
Proceedings concerned with human rights and
the economy have to consider political and social
strategies o the organizations involved. Legal inst-ruments and legal actions can contribute to societal
change, i they are coordinated with victims and
social movements. Recourse to legal action in ge-
neral and work on single cases in particular have
the ability to demonstrate and exempliy general
problems o society.
In the uture, it should not make a legal dierence
whether a corporation has its headquarters in Aus-
tria or Germany, as the unjustness o human rights
violations remains the same.
Furthermore, an insufcient legal situation and im-
plementation should cause more and not less civil
and criminal proceedings. Human rights violations
o transnational corporations are not only political
and social scandals, but also violate universally
accepted norms.
The violation o human rights norms has to have
legal consequences or the perpetrators. Exemplary
proceedings could contribute to strengthen the uni-
versality and justiciability o human rights. Humanrights have to be enorced through national and
international courts and orums, as transnational
corporations operate globally. Only the restless pro-
secution o human rights violations sets important
legal precedents and triggers academic discourse.
Both elements contribute to a progressive develop-
1The term transnational corporation reers to a corpo-
ration with oreign branches and subsidiary companies.
Transnational corporations are networks with multiple
centers, which are mutually dependent but geographicallydispersed. They are integrated by common strategies,
norms and exchanges o inormation, experiences and
resources (Quelle: Bundeszentrale r politische Bildung:
www.bpb.de/publikationen/TTRFX1,1,0, Globalisie-rung_
als_Chance_f%FCr_Wohlstand_und_Arbeitspl%E4tze.
html). According to the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD), there are currently
around 79.000 transnational corpo-rations operating
across the globe. (Quelle: United Nations Conerence on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investement
Report 2008: Transnational Corporations and the Inra-
structure Challenge, Seite XVI).
2 According to the Washington Institute for Policy Studies,
there are already more corporations than states among the
worlds 100 largest economic entities (see Klaus Werner/
Hans Weiss: Das neue Schwarzbuch Markenrmen DieMachenschaften der Weltkonzerne, 3rd edition, 2007,
p. 62f.). In 2007, the earnings of Wal-Mart (378 billion
$US), BP (291 billion $US) and Shell (256 billion $US)
exceeded the GDP of South Africa (252 billion $US),
Saudi-Arabia (376 billion $US), and Denmark (311 billion
$US). Source: Wikipedia from 22.01.2009.
3 "The corporate responsibility to respect exists inde-
pendently o States' duties" (Report rom the Special
Representative o the UN Secretary General on Business
and Human Rights: John Ruggie, Protect, Respect and
Remedy: a Framework or Business and Human Rights,
2008, Paragraph 5.).
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12 Chapter 28, Section 1350 o the US Code.13 In Latin America: the cases Botina, Puma, Shell/
Brasil, and Aventis/ Rhodia. In Europe: the cases Amoco
Cadiz, Total/ Gulf of Biskaya, Aurul, and Sellaeld. Asia
shows relatively ew cases o human rights violations, inspite o numerous reports about human rights violations,
especially in local supplier actories. This is due to the
act that many transnational corporations operating in
Asia have their headquarters in the US and not in Europe.14 In most cases, environmental pollution is caused by
contamination o soil, particularly through toxic waste,
pesticides, and leaking pipelines (See: Total/ Russia,
BP, Tragura Beheer, ICI, and Aventis/ Rhodia), or con-
tamination o water, or instance through damn ailures,
pesticides, or accidents of tankers (Amoco Cadiz, Total/
Gul o Biskaya).15 In the Sellaeld-Case, Greenpeace is the respondent.16 Art. 3 in conjunction with Art. 5 of the 2003 Corporate
Responsibility Act, whose application is not impaired by
the 2006 Companies Act.
17 According to the Austrian Federal Law of the Crimi-
nal Responsibility o Corporations, a corporation can be
sanctioned i an individual belonging to the corporation
committed criminal actions. The Austrian Federal Law
o the Criminal Responsibility o Corporations distin-
guishes between two cases (Para. 2 and Para. 3, each
in conjunction with Para. 1) triggering a responsibility
o associations. However, the precondition or this is
that the criminal action was committed in avor o the
corporation, or that the criminal action violated duties o
the corporation.
18 The Syngenta-Case exemplifes this comprehensively,
in: Wolfgang Kaleck/ Miriam Saage-Maa: Transnationale
Unternehmen vor Gericht ber die Gefhrdung der
Menschenrechte durch europische Firmen in Latein-
amerika, 2008, p. 97-99).
19 According to the Forum Non Conveniens Doctrine,national courts reject cases i a oreign court is more sui-
table to deal with the case. The criteria or that decision
are not coherent.
20 Human rights violations o transnational corporations
oten aect labor rights. I employer and employee do
not explicitly agree to apply German law (which almost
never happens in transnational cases), the applicability o
German law is precluded according to Art. 30 ff. EGBGB.
21 Art. 4 (1) of the Rome-II-Regulation which applies in
cases o non-contractual obligations (Regula-tion (EC) No.
864/2007 o the European Parliament and o the Council
o 11 July 2007, available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
4 Report des UN Special Representative on Business
and Human Rights: John Ruggie, "Protect, Respect and
Remedy: a Framework or Business and Human Rights,
A/HRC/8/5, 7 April 2008, available at www.reports-and-
materials.org/Ruggie-report-7-Apr-2008.pdf. An overviewo the work o the UN Special Representative is available
at: www.reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-docs-list-8-
Jan-2009.pd.
5 See or instance the database o the Business and
Human Rights Resource Centre, available at www.busi-
ness-humanrights.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuits-
regulatoryaction/LawsuitsSelectedcases, or the database
o the Castan Centre or Human Rights Law at Monash
University, available at www.law.monash.edu.au/castan-
centre/projects/mchr/trans-hr-litigation.html.
6 An overview of environmental crimes of transnationalcorporations is provided in the ollowing publication o
Greenpeace International: Marcelo Futado, Von Hernan-
dez, Eco Matser, Andreas Bernstorff, Um-weltverbrechen
multinationaler Konzerne Zur Notwendigkeit einer in-
ternationalen bereinkunft zur Unternehmensverantwor-
tung, Amsterdam 2002.
7 This document can be ordered via e-mail at ECCHR.
Please write an e-mail to [email protected].
8 November 2008.9 Civil proceedings (comprising common as well as civil
law countries) consti tute more than hal o all cases. This
is due to the numerous ATCA-Cases. Criminal proceedings
account or less than one third. The remaining proceedings
account or 15 % o all recorded proceedings.
10 This applies to environmental degradation as well
(see: Greenpeace International: Marcelo Futado, Von
Hernandez, Eco Matser, Andreas Bernstorff, Umweltver-
brechen multinationaler Konzerne Zur Notwendigkeit
einer internationalen bereinkunft zur Unternehmens-
verantwortung, Amsterdam 2002.)
11 Class actions are taken by several plaintis against oneor more respondents. The possibility to le class actions
exists only in some countries, or instance in the US and
Great Britain. In case o class actions, the US takes a legal
decision unitarily or all plaintis. Thus, it is no longer
necessary that each claimant provide ull evidence or his
aectedness. Claimants only have to prove an aliation
to the aected group. Decisions are legally binding or
all participants o the class action. However, the option
o taking class actions does not exist in Germany and
other European countries (See: Stephanie Eichholtz:
Die US-amerikanische Class Action und ihre deutschen
Funktionsquivalente).
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LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:199:0040:00
49:EN:PDF.
The Rome-I-Regulation, dealing with contractual obli-
gations is expected to be completed soon.
22
In 1985, the Compagnie Francaise des Petroles (CFP)was renamed into Total CFP. In 1991, it was named
Total. In 1999 the merger o Total and Petrona created
TotalFina. In 2000, TotalFina merged with Elaquitaine
and became ToltalFinaEl. Since 2003, the corporation
is again called Total.
23 The repeated violation o human rights by these cor-
porations raises the question o whether the actions o
these transnational corporations involve criminal intention.
8/2/2019 ECCHR European Cases ENG
10/10
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