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"UN: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998" [2005] ELECD 323; in Tully, Stephen (ed), "International Documents on Corporate Responsibility" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: International Documents on Corporate Responsibility

Editor(s): Tully, Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843768197

Section: Chapter 100

Section Title: UN: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

100. UN: The Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court, 1998

Commentary: The Rome Statute (UN Doc A/CONF.183/9 (1998), entry into
force 2002) envisages individual criminal responsibility for aggression, war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide where offences occur on the territory of State
Parties or by nationals thereof. Proposals to include corporate criminal responsibility
were rejected on account of national legal differences: see Article 23(5), Draft Statute
of the International Criminal Court, UN Doc A/CONF.183/2/Add.1 (1998). `Most
delegations held the view that it would be more useful to focus attention on individ-
ual responsibility, noting, at the same time, that corporations were in fact controlled
by individuals': Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International
Criminal Court (1996), `Proceedings during the Period 25 March­12 April 1996',
Draft summary prepared by Rapporteur Yoshida, UN Doc A/AC.249/CRP.3/Add.l:
paragraphs 5­6. However, corporate liability `could be important in the context of
restitution'. See generally, www.un.org/law/icc. The European Parliament has called
for a `legally binding framework with sanctions for companies which contribute to
conflicts' in unstable regions: European Parliament, Resolution on the Commission
Communication on Conflict Prevention, COM(2001)211.
A Nuremberg Military Tribunal observed that in certain circumstances action by
companies and their representatives in circumstances of an armed conflict `cannot be
differentiated from acts of plunder or pillage committed by officers . . . or . . . officials
of the Third Reich': US v Krauch (1952) ...