A multinational corporation owns and controls other companies in at least one country than the place of incorporation; Therefore, a multinational company is established in more than one country. The main difficulty that many authors have already addressed is the lack of responsibility and governance of multinational enterprises caused by the lack of international corporate regulation. Multinational enterprises are subject to the national laws of the different countries in which they operate and must comply with the obligations arising from such state legislation. Historically, only States have been subject to international law, but the list of topics now includes non-State actors such as individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multinational corporations (MULTINATIONALS), according to some of the instruments of international law. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has emphasized as early as 1949 that a unity of international law is something that can influence and be influenced by international law and can uphold international law by making at least some international claims. According to the same courts, a company appears to be subject to international law in the same way as an individual or an international organization. In addition, a U.S. Court of Appeals decision for the Second Circuit under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) proposed the same thing. Although traditionally only States have been the subject of international law, some authors now confirm that other organizations, such as corporations, are considered international persons for limited and functional purposes, since States can establish private organizations such as corporations under national law. Recent interpretations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international trade law, such as Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the new agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, have included companies as subjects of international law in addition to certain individuals.
Courts and academics often attempt to draw legal conclusions from the status of entities, whether states, international organizations or corporations. Debates about whether companies are “subjects” of international law, and the legal conclusions that flow from them, are particularly noisy in disputes over foreign tort claims in U.S. courts. Using the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United as a cautionary tale, the author argues that drawing legal conclusions from “coverage” carries dangers, particularly in the case of businesses. He argues that such top-down approaches are likely to lead to unintended consequences and that companies, such as international organizations, should be seen as “participants” rather than “subjects”. Are companies subject to international law? In this article, we want to answer the question of whether or not companies are subject to international law. Today, sovereignty is the concept that has established order in the system of international law among States. Sometimes companies try to avoid international liability for their actions by claiming that they are not subject to international law and that they are only states. However, given the modern concept of multinational enterprises doing business in several states at the same time, national borders are not so powerful.
In addition to the above-mentioned opinion of the icJ, the diplomatic notes to the 1948 Genocide Convention are ambivalent as to the inclusion of corporations in the term “person” as used in this Treaty; Therefore, an international tribunal has a legal way to do so. Debates on “companies subject to international law?” will continue as long as academics and courts around the world take different positions on the issue. Contact us, your international business attorney in Florida, to help you with your international legal requirements and your company`s international responsibility. Customary international law derives from the consistent practice of States, accompanied by opinio juris (the conviction of States that consistent practice is required by a legal obligation). However, in a 1970 case, the ICJ ruled that only the State in which a company is registered is entitled to bring an action for damages for economic losses. To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or download the file to your hard drive. Subscribe to this free journal for more articles on the subject. International Law: Courts and Arbitration eJournal. 40 Washington Square SouthNew York, NY 10012-1099United States NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 10-77.
NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files in Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern Mac (Intel), there is no official plug-in to view PDF files in the browser window. Jose E. Alvarez, Are Corporations “subjects” of international law?, 9 Santa Clara J. Int`l L. 1 (2011). Available at: digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil/vol9/iss1/1.