Pages: 7

This introduction presents the scope and significance of the research conducted in the book, which concerns the question of the international criminal liability of corporations. It highlights the ongoing relevance of the issue of corporate involvement in international crimes and the need to explore the role that international criminal law can play in addressing corporate wrongdoing. Additionally, it offers an overview of the arguments presented in the book to advance the discussion on corporate criminal liability under international criminal law. Lastly, it outlines the overall picture emerging from the research, claiming that the question of the international criminal liability of corporations is far from settled and that it is time for the international criminal justice system to evolve to recognise corporations as potential subjects of international criminal liability.

Pages: 39

This chapter looks at the history of Nuremberg to investigate the extent to which the criminal liability of corporate entities was discussed at that time. The analysis begins by looking at the role played by groups and organisations during the trial conducted by the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg. The chapter considers the characteristics of the model of criminal organisation adopted at Nuremberg to contrast it with the modern concept of corporate criminal liability. Additionally, the chapter looks at the subsequent trials conducted by the US Military Tribunals pursuant Control Council Law No. 10. The investigation focuses in particular on the I.G. Farben case as a pivotal example of corporate involvement in international crimes. The aim of the chapter is to provide a better contextualisation of the Nuremberg experience in today's debate on corporate criminal liability for international crimes to avoid future misinterpretations.

Pages: 25

This chapter looks at the immediate aftermath of the Nuremberg trials to consider to what extent the question of corporate liability was discussed in the late 1940s to the early 1950s. The investigation deals in detail with three post-Nuremberg initiatives: The Genocide Convention, the International Law Commission's Draft Code of Offences against Peace and Security of Mankind, and the 1951 and 1953 Committees on International Criminal Jurisdiction. The analysis of these initiatives demonstrates that the question of the criminal liability of legal persons has remained part of the debate on the scope and purpose of international criminal law in the aftermath of the Nuremberg trials. The chapter builds a bridge between the Nuremberg experience and the Rome Conference and helps paint a more accurate picture of the historical development of the debate on the international criminal liability of corporations.

Pages: 35

This chapter explores the way in which the criminal liability of corporations was discussed in the years that led to the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The analysis deals in detail with the debate surrounding the French proposal on the liability of legal persons, following its evolution over the two years that led to its dismissal in 1998. The investigation highlights the complexity of the task of defining a provision on corporate criminal liability. In doing so, it supports the conclusion that the exclusion of corporate criminal liability from the Statute did not rest on theoretical grounds or on an incompatibility between the concept and international criminal law. As such, the chapter argues that the withdrawal of the French proposal should be seen solely as a setback in the debate on the feasibility of including corporations within the domain of international criminal law.

Pages: 59

This chapter looks at key international developments in the area of corporate criminal liability that occurred after the adoption of the Rome Statute. The investigation focuses specifically on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's (STL) decision to establish (contempt) jurisdiction over legal persons, Article 46C of the Malabo Protocol on corporate criminal liability, and the decision to include a provision on the liability of legal persons in the ILC's Draft Articles on Crimes against Humanity. The in-depth analysis of these developments sheds light on the evolution of the arguments used to discuss the feasibility of imposing criminal liability on corporate entities at the international level. Additionally, it offers a counterargument against the idea that the debate on an international corporate criminal liability lost cogency after the exclusion of corporations from the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Pages: 25

This chapter explores the use of domestic developments in the field of corporate criminal liability as an argument to support the transposition of such a concept at the international level. In the scholarship on an international corporate criminal liability the comparative law argument has been proposed as evidence of a change in the attitude of the State towards the possibility of imposing criminal liability on legal entities. The chapter evaluates the significance of such an argument while highlighting potential limitations and inaccuracies in the discussion on domestic approaches to corporate criminal liability. It also examines whether the argument can be used to support the idea that corporate criminal liability is on the verge of becoming a general principle of law within the meaning of Article 38(1)(c) of the ICJ Statute.

Pages: 44

This chapter explores the main substantive and procedural issues arising from drafting an amendment to the Rome Statute to include corporations within the ICC jurisdiction. Attention is paid to the mode of attribution of international criminal liability to corporations and to the question of whether lack of supervision or control should be considered as a ground to establish corporate liability. The chapter also engages with the question of whether corporations as non-human beings enjoy fundamental human rights and fair trial guarantees to the same extent as natural persons. Lastly, it looks at a potential sentencing system applicable to corporate defendants. The aim of this chapter is to shed light on the complexity of designing a suitable model of international corporate criminal liability.

Pages: 8

The conclusions of this book outline the main findings of the research conducted on the question of the international criminal liability of corporations. Since Nuremberg, several attempts have been made to include corporations within the scope of international criminal law to strengthen the framework of international accountability. This section highlights the book's effort to demonstrate how the failure of these attempts has not been due to the rejection of the concept as incompatible with the principles of international criminal law. The obstacles that so far have prevented the recognition of corporate criminal liability appear to rest on practical and political grounds and, as such, they are not without solution. The conclusions consolidate the argument that the time is now ripe to rethink the role that the international criminal justice system can play to promote a more effective system to address corporate involvement in international crimes.