From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

5 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM TRADINGCompetition law: Given the increasing control of numerous marketsby handfuls of global corporations, there is a strong argument forsome form of global competition authority. Although in theory suchan authority could be housed in the WTO, many developing countriesargue that the agenda there is more likely to be driven by TNCs’ desirefor improved market access than by a concern to improve developmentoutcomes. As a result, competition was dropped from the Dohaagenda in 2004. A separate global competition authority, perhapshoused within the UN system, is more likely to command trust.Liability: When companies commit serious abuses, such as thenotorious 1984 gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, Indiathat killed an estimated 20,000 people and left a further 100,000 withlifelong damage, should they be liable to prosecution in the countrywhere the abuse takes place, or in a court in their home country?Other countries could follow the example set by the US Alien TortClaims Act and allow victims to sue in a company’s home country(this is particularly important in cases where the rule of law is weak).Alternatively, judgements made in foreign courts could be enforced bycourts in rich countries by, for example, collecting damages.BOX 5.3CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY OR ACCOUNTABILITY?VOLUNTARY SCHEMES VS REGULATIONMost businesses argue for corporate responsibility, achievedby self-regulation through voluntary initiatives. Civil societyorganisations, on the other hand, tend to demand corporateaccountability, in particular to those stakeholders whose livesare directly affected: people displaced by mining, women deniedproper working conditions in sweatshops, farmers denied aliving wage by the prices given for their produce.Voluntary initiatives range from TNC public relations-basedpromises to behave well, through peer review, to so-called‘multi-stakeholder’ initiatives involving corporations and otherrelevant groups in jointly developing guidelines, monitoringperformance, and dealing with problems, which can be veryeffective. Some of these are intergovernmental, such as the349