BRITAIN: Environmentalists criticise company law reform

On November 3, Friends of the Earth (FoE) responded to the Company Law Reform Bill, tabled in the House of Lords the previous day, by accusing the government of putting the interests of big business before those of people and the environment. FoE, along with trade unions and other environment and social justice groups, has been calling for a legal "duty of care" of company directors to communities and the environment. It also called for victims of corporate wrongdoing to be given legal rights of redress. Yet the new legislation states that directors should put profits first and it only requires them to "have regard to" communities and the environment, which can only be enforced by shareholders. FoE's Sarah Clifton asked: "Why does the government only want directors to think about their social and environmental impacts, rather than do something about them? How can it offer justice to shareholders but deny it to the people whose lives are most directly affected by corporate irresponsibility?" For more information visit <http://www.foe.co.uk>.

From Green Left Weekly, November 23, 2005.

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From GLW issue 650