Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Corporate War Crimes: Prosecuting Pillage Of Natural Resources, James G. Stewart

All Faculty Publications

Pillage means theft during war. Although the prohibition against pillage dates to antiquity, pillaging is a modern war crime that can be enforced before international and domestic criminal courts. Following World War II, several businessmen were convicted for the pillage of natural resources. And yet modern commercial actors are seldom held accountable for their role in the illegal exploitation of natural resources from modern conflict zones, even though pillage is prosecuted as a matter of course in other contexts. This book offers a doctrinal road-map of the law governing pillage as applied to the illegal exploitation of natural resources by …

Conceptualizing The Home State Duty To Protect Human Rights, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights (SRSG) has identified the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by non-State actors, including business, as one of the fundamental pillars of the Framework for Business and Human Rights [Framework].1 The Framework “rests on differentiated but complementary responsibilities”, and is comprised of three “core principles”: the State duty to protect, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and the need for more effective access to remedies.2 However, the jurisdictional scope of the State duty to protect is disputed. According to the SRSG, international law provides that …

Tax Fraud In The Sales Tax: Zappers — What Are They? How Can Puerto Rico Block Them?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

The Sales and Use Tax is an essential part of Puerto Rico’s revenue profile. Effective only recently (November 15, 2006) the Impuesto a las Ventas y Uso (IVU) was expected to raise between $2.3 and $1.05 billion annually, and has already become the Commonwealth’s fourth largest revenue source. Actual revenue results for 2007-2008 came in at $1.1 billion, which admittedly is closer to the low end than the high end of what is possible, but now that the tax is in place the next pressing question is how can its performance be improved?

This paper generally proposes that Puerto Rico …

Lowering The Cost Of Rent: How Ifrs And The Convergence Of Corporate Governance Standards Can Help Foreign Issuers Raise Capital In The United States And Abroad, Kyle W. Pine

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Since the early 1990s the United States has experienced a dramatic growth in the number of foreign firms choosing to trade their shares in U.S. markets. Meanwhile, Europe and other markets have not experienced this effect to the same extent. there has been an observable worldwide growth in stock market capitalization since the 1990s with an increasing number of foreign issuers choosing to cross-list their shares abroad, usually in the United States. Traditional explanations for why firms choose to cross-list have focused primarily on access to trade in more liquid markets. A more convincing theory for why firms cross-list, attributed …

Promoting Distributional Equality For Women: Some Thoughts On Gender And Global Corporate Citizenship In Foreign Direct Investment, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

This essay applies a legal theory of global corporate citizenship to the question of women’s distributional equality in foreign direct investment. It proposes ways that a legal theory of mandatory global corporate citizenship can expand the ways we think about regulating transnational corporations and promoting gender equality.

The Ifc's New Africa, Latin America, And Caribbean Fund: Its Worrisome Start, And How To Fix It, Christiana Ochoa, Patrick J. Keenan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In April 2010 the International Finance Corporation announced the creation of the African, Latin American, and Caribbean fund, a new co-investment vehicle funded largely with commitments from sovereign wealth and pension funds. The fund's objective was to draw on the IFC and the World Bank's strengths in emerging markets to identify and support enterprises that might not otherwise have come to the attention of large investors and thereby help strengthen the private sector and alleviate poverty in some of the world's poorest countries. Unfortunately the fund has, so far, proven a disappointment. It has invested only in large corporations that …

State Responsibility In Promoting Environmental Corporate Accountability, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtual Intermediaries Ii - Canadian Solutions (Drop Shipments) Compared With Us, Japanese & Eu Approaches, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Virtual travel agents are opportunistic internet-based travel agents. They are intermediary businesses that create mutually beneficial three-party transactions that secure accommodations for a traveler that: (a) meet the basic needs of the traveler (at a discount), (b) fills vacant room for accommodation retailers with guests that pay below market, but above standard costs, and (c) profit from the extra cash, the margin in the transaction.

The virtual intermediary’s eye is always on the discount and the cash flow. One of the things that catches their attention are the accommodation taxes which they collect from the traveler in advance and remit …

Agenda: World Energy Justice Conference And Appropriate Technology Arcade, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law

World Energy Justice Conference (October 23-24)

The 2009 CEES Energy Justice Conference took place at the University of Colorado Law School on October 23rd and 24th, 2009. It featured 11 sessions, more than 40 speakers, and attracted over 200 attendees. The Conference brought together leading international and U.S. decision-makers in politics, engineering, public health, law, business, economics, and innovators in the sciences to explore how best to address the critical needs of the energy-oppressed poor (EOP) through long-term interdisciplinary action, information sharing, and deployment of appropriate sustainable energy technologies (ASETs).

The Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy (CJIELP) at the University of Colorado Law …

Mtic Fraud Infects Tradable Carbon Permits, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud has been slowly morphing from cell phones and computer chips to other commodities. In the last few months however MTIC made a dramatic appearance in tradable CO2 permits. It closed exchanges and prompted France and the Netherlands to unilaterally change their tax treatment of CO2 trades. The UK has followed the French treatment in large measure. On Monday June 8, 2009 rumors of MTIC fraud in carbon emission permits closed the main European exchange for spot trading of European Union carbon emissions permits and Kyoto offsets. When BlueNext began trading permits again on Wednesday, June …

Massachusetts Zappers - Collecting The Sales Tax That Has Already Been Paid, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

No other New England state is as vulnerable to Zappers as is the State of Massachusetts. Zappers and related software programming, Phantom-ware, facilitate an old tax fraud – skimming cash receipts. In this instance skimming is performed with modern electronic cash registers (ECRs).

Zappers are a global revenue problem, but to the best of this author’s knowledge they have not been uncovered in Massachusetts. A global perspective says: it is highly unlikely that Zappers are not in the Commonwealth – we just need to find them. In fact, using a Quebec template, tax losses from Zappers and related frauds in …

The Hollowing Out Of Corporate Canada: Implications For Transnational Labor Law, Policy And Practice, Harry Arthurs

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vat Derogations In Germany, Austria, Denmark, And Estonia: Use And Enjoyment Rules, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

When the Czech Republic elected (effective January 1, 2009) to derogate from the standard rules for determining the place of supply for intangible services, pursuant to Article 58 of the Recast VAT Directive (RVD), it was following the lead of ten other Member States. This paper considers four of those other jurisdictions - Germany, Austria, Estonia, and Denmark - and compares their derogations with that of the Czech Republic.

In each instance a use and enjoyment standard determines the place of supply for certain intangible services. The affected transactions are (potentially) wide ranging. In each instance non-EU countries are on …

Changes To The Czech Republic's Vat Act: The Use And Enjoyment Rules, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On January 1, 2009 a minor change in the Czech Republic VAT became effective. A use and enjoyment standard was added to modify the sourcing of certain service transactions. Traditional proxy-based rules, derived from Articles 43 and 56(1) of the Recast VAT Directive (RVD), are set aside by this modification when the customer receiving the services has a permanent establishment (PE) in the Czech Republic. The modification is authorized by RVD 58.

This change is a limited adoption of RVD 58(b), and functions like a full force of attraction principle in direct taxation. If caught by these rules, transactions that …

Quebec's Module D'Enregistrement Des Ventes (Mev): Fighting The Zapper, Phantomware And Tax Fraud With Technology, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On January 28, 2008 the Quebec Minister of Revenue, Jean-Marc Fournier, announced that by late 2009 the MRQ will begin testing a device, the module d'enregistrement des ventes (MEV) that is projected to substantially reduce tax fraud in the restaurant sector. By 2010 or 2011 MEVs will be mandatory in all Quebec restaurants, where they will assure accuracy and retention of business records within electronic cash registers (ECRs).

This paper moves beyond a discussion of the variety of sales suppression programs in use - zappers and phantom-ware. The concern here is on enforcement efforts, particularly the MEV. The intent is …

Toward Global Corporate Citizenship: Reframing Foreign Direct Investment Law, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

This article argues that modern foreign direct investment law is a vestige of the colonial era during which early forms of transnational corporations emerged. Unlike international trade law and despite the dramatic developments of the twentieth century, foreign direct investment law remains largely unchanged. Due to a lack of political will, prior multilateral efforts to implement comprehensive foreign direct investment law reforms have been largely unsuccessful. However, in recent years, growing political will has emerged under the umbrella of Global Corporate Citizenship and related movements. This article posits that Global Corporate Citizenship is an opportunity to reframe and reform foreign …

Translating Unocal: The Expanding Web Of Liability For Business Entities Implicated In International Crimes, Anita Ramasastry, Robert C. Thompson, Mark B. Taylor

Articles

The Ninth Circuit ruled that a corporation could be held liable under the federal Alien Tort Claims Act for its complicity in a violation of international criminal law occurring outside the U.S. (Doe I v. Unocal Corp., 395 F.3d 932 (9th Cir. 2002)). Since then, litigants have filed increasing numbers of such cases. These cases raise two questions: (1) Is the United States the only country that provides judicial accountability for business entities involved in international crimes abroad? and (2) How are other countries "translating" the basic kinds of accountability that Unocal recognized into their own legal systems? This Article …

A Little Of This, A Little Of That: Potential Effects On Entrepreneurship Of The Mccain And Obama Tax Proposals, Anthony J. Luppino

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Pain, Gain, Or Shame: The Evolution Of Environmental Law And The Role Of Multinational Corporations, Michael Ewing-Chow, Darryl Soh

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The evolution of environmental law in the past century has been linked to the growing acceptance of the notion of collective global responsibility, which entails the notion of sustainable development. At the turn of this century, the focus in environmental law has shifted from the creation of a global framework to deal with environmental problems to that of compliance with these frameworks. As a result, the primary actor of environmental policy has shifted from the state to the corporation. How has environmental law developed so as to encourage compliance by this new primary actor? Conversely, how has the corporation been …

Integration Of Corporate Social Responsibility Through International Voluntary Initiatives, Tim Baines

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Many multinational companies and financial institutions have adopted corporate social responsibility programs, often relying on the implementation of international voluntary initiatives. This article describes two such mechanisms. The first, the Equator Principles, provides guidance to financial institutions involved in project finance. The second, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, helps governments to encourage businesses to be socially and environmentally responsible. This article suggests means by which voluntary initiatives can be implemented to benefit both the wider community and companies themselves. It also suggests ways of overcoming shortcomings resulting from the lack of access to formal …

Navigating The Turbulent Waters Connecting The World Trade Organization And Corporate Social Responsibility, Gustavo Ferreira Ribeiro

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This paper uses the metaphor of a fisherman's journey into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) "seas" to explore the relationship between them. It is intended to provide the reader with a basic understanding of this relationship. An argument can be made that the WTO and CSR waters are not connected at all: the WTO is an intergovernmental organization regulating rights and duties of its members (mainly states), while CSR concerns primarily non-governmental initiatives dealing with corporate behavior, such as voluntary codes of conduct and certification processes involving social and environmental standards. However, this paper explores …

Corporate Liability Under The Alien Tort Statute: Federal Common Law As The Standard For Third Party Liability, Alexandra Bradley

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Redesigning The Sec: Does The Treasury Have A Better Idea?, John C. Coffee Jr., Hillary A. Sale

Faculty Scholarship

Symposiums supply a snapshot in time. By observing the common assumptions and shared frameworks of a collection of scholars writing contemporaneously, one gains both insight into the intellectual world of a past era and the ability to measure its distance from our own. Twenty-five years ago the Virginia Law Review organized a noted symposium (the "1984 Symposium") to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SEC. A number of prominent scholars participated, and its articles have been much cited.

Electronic Tax Fraud - Are There "Sales Zappers" In Japan?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Although there is no public acknowledgement - in the press, in a court case, though any announcement by the Japanese National Tax Administration, or in any academic studies or papers - that Zappers and Phantom-ware are a fraud problem in Japan, a number of factors suggest that Japan may be very fertile ground for technology-assisted cash skimming fraud. Those factors include: (1) a high concentration of small to medium sized businesses; (2) the fact that the retail economy is highly cash-based; and (3) the high level of technology acceptance in the Japanese retail sector - electronic cash registers (ECRs) and …

Insource The Shareholding Of Outsourced Employees: A Global Stock Ownership Plan, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

With the American economy stalled and another federal election campaign season well underway, the “outsourcing” of American jobs is again on the public agenda. Latest figures indicate not only that claims for joblessness benefits are up, but also that the rate of American job-exportation has more than doubled since the last electoral cycle. This year’s political candidates have been quick to take note. In consequence, more than at any time since the early 1990s, continued American participation in the World Trade Organization, in the North American Free Trade Agreement, and in the processes of global economic integration more generally appear …

Changing The Paradigm Of Stock Ownership From Concentrated Towards Dispersed Ownership? Evidence From Brazil And Consequences For Emerging Countries, Erica Gorga

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

This paper analyzes micro-level dynamics of changes in ownership structures. It investigates a unique event: changes in ownership patterns currently taking place in Brazil. It builds upon empirical evidence to advance theoretical understanding of how and why concentrated ownership structures can change towards dispersed ownership.

Commentators argue that the Brazilian capital markets are finally taking off. The number of listed companies and IPOs in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) has greatly increased. Firms are migrating to Bovespa’s special listing segments, which require higher standards of corporate governance. Companies have sold control in the market, and the stock market has …

Mtic (Carousel) Fraud: Twelve Ways Forward; Two Ways "Preferred" - Has The Technology-Based Administrative Solution Been Rejected?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In a May 31, 2006 Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Commission indicated a need to develop a co-ordinated strategy to improve the fight against fiscal fraud [COM(2006) 254 final]. Although the Communication considers fiscal fraud broadly (VAT, excise duties and direct taxes) the most pressing need seems to be for a VAT strategy that will effectively deal with MTIC (Missing Trader Intra-Community) or carousel fraud. To this end the Commission hosted a conference: Fiscal Fraud - Tackling VAT Fraud: Possible Ways Forward. The March 29, 2007 conference was constructed …

Zappers: Tax Fraud, Technology And Terrorist Funding, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

"Zappers," or automated sales suppression devices, have brought unheard of efficiencies and economies of scale to a very simple tax fraud - skimming cash sales at point of sale (POS) terminals (electronic cash registers). Until recently the largest tax fraud case in Connecticut, also the "largest computer driven tax-evasion case in the nation," was a zapper case. Stew Leonard's Dairy in Norwalk Connecticut skimmed $17 million in receipts and hid the cash in St. Martin (a Caribbean island). Talal Chahine and his wife, Elfat El Aouar, owners of the La Shish restaurant chain in Detroit Michigan have the dubious honor …

Unilateral Home State Regulation: Imperialism Or Tool For Subaltern Resistance?, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Home state reluctance to engage in the regulation of international corporate activities in the human rights context is sometimes expressed as a concern that it would constitute an imperialistic infringement of host state sovereignty. This concern may be explicit, or it may be implicit in an expressed desire to avoid conflict with the sovereignty of foreign states. Yet, in the absence of a multilateral treaty directly addressing business and human rights, a role for home states in regulating so as to prevent and remedy human rights harms is increasingly being suggested. The purpose of this paper is to explore theoretical …

Corporations, Veils, And International Criminal Liability, Ronald Slye

Faculty Articles

This article investigates the issue of corporations and their criminal liability. Specifically, it outlines general arguments surrounding the issue. It provides more of a broad overview, identifying the key arguments that are typically made for applying criminal liability to corporations.