By Thomas Pletscher, Secretary General, ICC Switzerland

Personal appreciation of timing and effect

Today and after a harsh and emotional campaign on both sides, Switzerland voted on a popular initiative to amend the Constitution in order to strengthen responsible business conduct (RBI) in the field of human rights and environmental standards. The proposal was rejected in a tight vote (50.7% yes by people) and with a clear majority of the Cantons being against. Any amendment of the Constitution has to be approved by the people as well as the Cantons.

The RBI would had requested strict due dilligence along the whole supply chain and a direct liability in Switzerland for mother companies for damages caused by themselves as well as subsidiaries and economically dependent suppliers abroad. Concrete conditions an details would have been defined in an implentation law to be elaborated after a positive vote. This would have taken some more years due to the legislative process.

The Parliament has already approved a counter proposal (CP). This CP obliges Companies to strict due diligence in relation to human rights, environmental standards and anti-coruption. Special respect has to be given to raw material and child labor. The CP can be compared with the laws in France, Netherlands or United Kingdom as well with proposed rules in the EU. Liability rules are not changed. Some claims are already possible under existing law (but have never been tested), notably when «headquarters are directly involved in violations». Court pactice will show whether due dilligence and reporting obligations will change the perception of «being directly involved».

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ICC has been ask to partner with Principia Advisory and Clifford Chance, who will profile how businesses are approaching anti-corruption and responsible business practices in the COVID-19 rebuild and recovery.

Please support us in this endavour by participating in the study here.

Participation will be anonymous and won't take longer than 10 minures. Thank you for your support!

Responsibility in partnership instead of confrontation

By Thomas Wellauer, Chairman of ICC Switzerland and Chairman of Board of Directions SIX Group

This was published as an article in the Bündner Tagblatt on Friday 13 November 2020. See article here.

The vote on the Corporate Responsibility Initiative (UVI) has a special significance for ICC Switzerland. For over one hundred years, the "International Chamber of Commerce" ICC has been working for "peace and prosperity through trade and investment". Today it is represented in almost 100 countries and is the only private organization to be an observer member of the UN. ICC Switzerland forms the bridge from Switzerland to this global network.

Responsible entrepreneurship is important to ICC Switzerland. ICC thus supports the high standards of due diligence associated with it. For example, the ICC guidelines for international investments call on investing companies to respect the human rights of those affected by their activities worldwide in accordance with UN principles.

ICC Switzerland therefore supports the indirect counter-proposal (CDR) to the UVI of the Federal Council and Parliament. This proposal tightens the duty of care for companies. It goes beyond the EU rules and combines the rules of the UK and the Netherlands, for example. It is based on well-known instruments. With the new mandatory reporting, the measures become verifiable for third parties. The CDR thus positions Switzerland in an internationally coordinated manner. It comes into force if the initiative is rejected.

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For more than 30 years, the ICC Institute of World Business Law has been enhancing ties between the academic world and practising lawyers.

Launched in 2007, the Institute created the Institute Prize as a means to encourage focused research on legal issues affecting international business. Contributing to the understanding and progress of international commercial law around the world, the Institute Prize recognises legal writing excellence.

The ICC Institute of World Business Law is pleased to announce that the 8th edition of the ICC Institute Prize will take place in 2021. The ICC Institute Prize awards 10,000 EUR to an excellent thesis in the field of international commercial law including arbitration. The Prize Ceremony will take place following the Annual Conference of the ICC Institute of World Business Law.

The Institute Prize is open to anyone 40 years of age or under as of deadline date who submits a doctoral dissertation or long essay (minimum of 150 pages) drafted in French or English on the subject of international commercial law, including arbitration.

To participate in the ICC Institute Prize, please pre register here.

ICC's 6th Geneva Business Dialogue in it's hybrid form was a success and we are very pleased to offer you the video recording of the event now: