Corporate Liability
The behaviour of corporations affects all of us. The degree of economic and political influence they wield varies according to several factors, not least size and whether they engage in international activities. Those companies that operate on a transnational basis may have been less easily held to account for corruption in the past. This position has changed over the last two decades, and not only in legal terms. Corporations can no longer regard bribery as a legitimate, tax deductible means to oil the wheels of business. Corruption carries a risk that is explicit in legal provisions and implicit in economic terms through potential damage to reputation (adverse publicity, boycotting and blacklisting) as well as criminal and civil sanctions. These developments have occurred at voluntary and regulatory levels – through compliance codes which aim to moderate corporate behaviour both internally and more broadly through industry-wide initiatives and international and domestic legal changes which affect the operating landscape.