2023/2024
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
EXAM PREPARATION
GERRIT PRAASTERINK
FACULTY OF LAW
Maastricht University
,Table of Contents
Week 1 – Tutorial – CSR & Company Law...........................................................................6
Tutorial tasks................................................................................................................................6
Task 1: The nature and purpose of corporations: Profit-maximisation and the Law......................................6
Task 2: Prohibition, possibility or duty: What can and should directors do for sustainability?......................9
Task 3: Shareholder rights and Corporate Sustainability..............................................................................11
Legal materials............................................................................................................................13
UK Companies Act 2006.................................................................................................................................13
Dutch Corporate Governance Code 2016......................................................................................................13
reading materials........................................................................................................................14
M Friedman (1972), The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, New York Times, 13
September 1970.............................................................................................................................................14
J-P Robé (2012), ‘Being Done With Milton Friedman.’ 2 Accounting, Economics, and Law, Article 3..........14
Business Roundtable (2019), Statement on the Purpose of the Corporation...............................................15
World Economic Forum (2020), The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
........................................................................................................................................................................15
A. Johnson et al (2020), Corporate Governance for Sustainability – Statement...........................................15
P Iglesias-Rodríguez (2023), Client Earth v Shell Plc and the (Un)Sustainability of UK Company Law and
Litigation to Pursue Climate-Related Goals, 35 Journal of Environmental Law, 445-454.............................16
M Lokin & J Veldman (2019), The Potential of the Dutch Corporate Governance Model for Sustainable
Governance and Long Term Shareholder Value, 4 Erasmus Law Review, 50-[54]........................................17
S Cools (2023), Climate Proposals: ESG Shareholder Activism Sidestepping Board Authority, Jan Ronse
Institute for Company & Financial Law Working Paper Series......................................................................18
Week 1 – Lecture..............................................................................................................20
Concepts & A bit on Corporate Theory........................................................................................20
History: What are corporations (for)?...........................................................................................................20
How does CSR fit in there?.............................................................................................................................21
CSR and the Law.............................................................................................................................................21
Substantive changes of CSR...........................................................................................................................21
Important international frameworks (week 3)..............................................................................................21
National company law & CSR......................................................................................................22
National Conceptions on corporate interest & purpose...............................................................................22
“CSR Laws”.....................................................................................................................................................22
The vehicle of directors/board duties............................................................................................................22
Client Earth v Board of directors of Shell.......................................................................................................23
EU Sustainable Corporate Governance Agenda............................................................................................24
Enforcement & Current litigation strategies.................................................................................................24
Week 2 – tutorial – CSR in EU Law....................................................................................24
Tutorial tasks..............................................................................................................................26
Task 1: The EU policy and legal policy perspective on CSR............................................................................26
Task 2: Corporate Sustainability Reporting & Transparency.........................................................................27
Task 3: Corporate Due Diligence Laws in the EU...........................................................................................29
Legal Materials............................................................................................................................33
, EU law............................................................................................................................................................33
National Due Diligence Legislation:...............................................................................................................33
Reading materials.......................................................................................................................33
M Rosini (2023), 'From CSR to HRDD: An Overview of Approaches, Initiatives and Measures Adopted by
the European Union, 24, International Community Law Review, 57-78.......................................................33
B Mihajlovic (2020), 'The Role of Consumers in the Achievement of Corporate Sustainability through
Reduction of Unfair Commercial Practices', 12 Sustainability, 1-20, read pp. 6-17......................................36
C Bright and N Bueno, Mandatory human rights due diligence, in: A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and
Human Rights, Edward Elgar Publishing 2023, p. 144-155, available via keylinks........................................38
Week 2 – Lecture..............................................................................................................41
The evolution of CSR in EU law and policy...................................................................................41
Relevant Policy Documents...........................................................................................................................41
The genealogy of a concept...........................................................................................................................41
Substance: Sustainability & business and human rights...............................................................................41
Form: Since 2011...The legal fields................................................................................................................41
Regulating CSR Transparency......................................................................................................42
Two approaches.............................................................................................................................................42
Regulation through reporting - “Soft obligation”..........................................................................................43
Consumer Law & Market Transparency........................................................................................................44
EU Mandatroy Due Diligence Legislation.....................................................................................44
Origin & substance of due diligence concept................................................................................................44
From transparency to due diligence in the EU..............................................................................................44
Specifics of Due Diligence and Debates - Scope............................................................................................45
Debate – Material Scope................................................................................................................................45
Sanctions – Diversity......................................................................................................................................45
Civil liability - An intense discussion..............................................................................................................46
The long process towards the CSDDD............................................................................................................46
Week 3 – Tutorial – CSR under Globalisation: Corporate Personality, Governance Gap,
International Soft and Hard Law.......................................................................................47
Tutorial tasks..............................................................................................................................47
Task 1: The global governance gap................................................................................................................47
Task 2: International rules on corporate social responsibility - The regulatory discussion in Business &
Human Rights.................................................................................................................................................48
Task 3: Extraterritorial Regulation.................................................................................................................50
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................50
Legal Materials...............................................................................................................................................50
A Scherer & G Palazzo (2008), Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility, in: A Crane et al (eds),
The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford University Press, 418-435......................50
A Ewing (2023), The Unites Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in: A Ewing
(ed), Teaching Business and Human Rights, Edward Elgar, 58-66, available via keylinks.............................53
Z Mikullovci (2023), Overview of the Proposed Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights, Blog of the
Center on Transnational Business and the Law, Georgetown University, 9 March 2023.............................56
L Feld (2023), A (Slight) Raise of the Bar: Due Diligence in the 2023 update of the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, Blog OECD Watch, 9 November 2023..........57
, E Umlas (2023), The OECD National Contact Point Mechanism, in: A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and
Human Rights, Edward Elgar, 204-211, available via keylinks.......................................................................58
C Omari Lichuma (2021), '(Laws) Made in the First World: A TWAIL Critique of the Use of Domestic
Legislation to Extraterritorially Regulate Supply Chains', 81 Heidelberg Journal of International Law, 497-
532, read pp. 515-532....................................................................................................................................59
Week 4 – Tutorial – Litigation against Corporations.........................................................63
Week 4 – Tasks............................................................................................................................63
Task 1: Kiobel v Shell - An landmark case on the making and failing of corporate human rights litigation. 63
Task 2: Climage Change Litigation - Constructing Cases against Carbon Majors..........................................64
Task 3: Human Rights Litigation in Tort Law - Bringing global operations into domestic courts..................67
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................68
A Ewing (2023), The Alien Torts Statute, in A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and Human Rights, Edward
Elgar Publishing, 177-184, available via keylinks...........................................................................................68
P Simons (2023), Developments in Canada on business and human rights: One Step Forward, Two Steps
Back? 36 Leiden Journal of International Law, 363-388, read section 4-5, pp. 379-388...............................70
L. Roorda (2022), Inequality of Harms, Inequality of Arms, Verfassungsblog, 28 November 2022..............71
G. van Calster (2019/2022), Blog on the Dutch Kiobel v Shell case, on the interim decision 2019 here and
the 2022 merits decision here.......................................................................................................................72
Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell District Court of the Hague, 27 May 2021,
ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5337, ...........................................................................................................................72
Saúl Luciano Lliuya v RWE, Oberlandesgericht Hamm, Case pending on appeal, read the case summary..72
Association Notre Affaire à tous et al v Total (Total/Climate Change Case), Paris Judicial Tribunal, 06 July
2023, read the case summary........................................................................................................................73
Watch the video of L Burgers & P Paiement on Climate Change Litigation against Private Actors,
available here (Video 6).................................................................................................................................73
E Aristova (2021), The Future of Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations in the English Courts: Is
Forum [Non] Conveniens Back?, 6 (3) Business and Human Rights Journal 399-422, read pp. 407-422.....75
Week 4 – lecture – Human Rights, Climate Change, and National Tort Law......................77
Human Rights Litigation..............................................................................................................77
The Bhopal case.............................................................................................................................................77
Kiobel v Shell..................................................................................................................................................77
Litigating for international obligations: ATS in the US...................................................................................78
Litigation II: State of play outside the US.......................................................................................................78
Nevsun Resources v Araya, 2020 SCC 5.........................................................................................................79
Climate change litigation.............................................................................................................79
Milieudefensie v Shell, Hague District Court, 26/05/21................................................................................79
The next claim: Milieudefensie v ING............................................................................................................80
Lluyia v RWE...................................................................................................................................................80
County of San Mateo v Chevron....................................................................................................................80
Notre Affairs à Tous and others v Total.........................................................................................................81
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................81
Private international law in litigation..........................................................................................81
Issues with CSR-litigation through private international law........................................................................81
Private international law and corporate litigation........................................................................................81
Week 5 – Tutorial – CSR in corporate groups....................................................................82
, Tutorial Tasks..............................................................................................................................82
Task 1: Corporate groups, limited liability and theories of group liability:...................................................82
Task 2: Corporate group liability for human rights violations.......................................................................83
Task 3: Due diligence and liability..................................................................................................................85
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................87
J. G. Ruggie (2018), ‘Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy’,
12 Regulation & Governance, 317-333, read pp. 317-321............................................................................87
R Mares (2019), Liability within corporate groups: Parent company's accountability for subsidiary human
rights abuses, in: S Deva and D Birchall (eds), Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business, Edward
Elgar 2020, 446-471.......................................................................................................................................87
C van Dam (2021), Breakthrough in Parent Company Liability: Three Shell Defeats, the End of an Era and
New Paradigms, 18 European Company and Financial Law Review, 714-748..............................................90
Lecture – The Use of Foreign Direct Liability Claims: An EU perspective......................................................95
Week 5 - Lecture..............................................................................................................97
The multinational corporation....................................................................................................97
Corporate groups..........................................................................................................................................97
Developments in group responsibility..........................................................................................................97
Corporate group liability.............................................................................................................97
Attribution of group responsibility: legal approaches..................................................................................97
Parent company duty of care........................................................................................................................98
Vedanta and Okpabi.....................................................................................................................................99
Four Nigerian Farmers v Shell, 29 January 2021...........................................................................................99
Jurisdiction & applicable law....................................................................................................100
What to know on private international law?...............................................................................................100
Jurisdiction..................................................................................................................................................101
Applicable law.............................................................................................................................................101
Due diligence & corporate group liability.................................................................................102
Week 6 – Tutorial – CSR and supply chain responsibility.................................................103
Week 6: tasks............................................................................................................................103
Reading materials.....................................................................................................................111
Doe v Wal-Mart Stores Inc, No. 08-55706, US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, 2009 (US).................111
P Bergkamp (2021), The Conceptual Revolution of Supply Chain Liability - Towards Corporate Social
Liability., Opinio Juris Blog, 24 June 2021....................................................................................................112
Travers & Smith Legal Briefing (2021), "Value Chain" Negligence Claims: The Door has Opened., 28 April
2021.............................................................................................................................................................113
J Salminen & M Rajavuori (2019), Transnational Sustainability Laws and the Regulation of Global Value
Chains., 26 (5) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 602-627.......................................114
readings on due diligence legislation in week 2..........................................................................................117
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Principles 3, 4, & 11-24 (including commentaries).
......................................................................................................................................................................117
the climate cases in week 4.........................................................................................................................118
Week 6 – Lecture – Responsibility for supply-chains.......................................................119
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................119
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
EXAM PREPARATION
GERRIT PRAASTERINK
FACULTY OF LAW
Maastricht University
,Table of Contents
Week 1 – Tutorial – CSR & Company Law...........................................................................6
Tutorial tasks................................................................................................................................6
Task 1: The nature and purpose of corporations: Profit-maximisation and the Law......................................6
Task 2: Prohibition, possibility or duty: What can and should directors do for sustainability?......................9
Task 3: Shareholder rights and Corporate Sustainability..............................................................................11
Legal materials............................................................................................................................13
UK Companies Act 2006.................................................................................................................................13
Dutch Corporate Governance Code 2016......................................................................................................13
reading materials........................................................................................................................14
M Friedman (1972), The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, New York Times, 13
September 1970.............................................................................................................................................14
J-P Robé (2012), ‘Being Done With Milton Friedman.’ 2 Accounting, Economics, and Law, Article 3..........14
Business Roundtable (2019), Statement on the Purpose of the Corporation...............................................15
World Economic Forum (2020), The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
........................................................................................................................................................................15
A. Johnson et al (2020), Corporate Governance for Sustainability – Statement...........................................15
P Iglesias-Rodríguez (2023), Client Earth v Shell Plc and the (Un)Sustainability of UK Company Law and
Litigation to Pursue Climate-Related Goals, 35 Journal of Environmental Law, 445-454.............................16
M Lokin & J Veldman (2019), The Potential of the Dutch Corporate Governance Model for Sustainable
Governance and Long Term Shareholder Value, 4 Erasmus Law Review, 50-[54]........................................17
S Cools (2023), Climate Proposals: ESG Shareholder Activism Sidestepping Board Authority, Jan Ronse
Institute for Company & Financial Law Working Paper Series......................................................................18
Week 1 – Lecture..............................................................................................................20
Concepts & A bit on Corporate Theory........................................................................................20
History: What are corporations (for)?...........................................................................................................20
How does CSR fit in there?.............................................................................................................................21
CSR and the Law.............................................................................................................................................21
Substantive changes of CSR...........................................................................................................................21
Important international frameworks (week 3)..............................................................................................21
National company law & CSR......................................................................................................22
National Conceptions on corporate interest & purpose...............................................................................22
“CSR Laws”.....................................................................................................................................................22
The vehicle of directors/board duties............................................................................................................22
Client Earth v Board of directors of Shell.......................................................................................................23
EU Sustainable Corporate Governance Agenda............................................................................................24
Enforcement & Current litigation strategies.................................................................................................24
Week 2 – tutorial – CSR in EU Law....................................................................................24
Tutorial tasks..............................................................................................................................26
Task 1: The EU policy and legal policy perspective on CSR............................................................................26
Task 2: Corporate Sustainability Reporting & Transparency.........................................................................27
Task 3: Corporate Due Diligence Laws in the EU...........................................................................................29
Legal Materials............................................................................................................................33
, EU law............................................................................................................................................................33
National Due Diligence Legislation:...............................................................................................................33
Reading materials.......................................................................................................................33
M Rosini (2023), 'From CSR to HRDD: An Overview of Approaches, Initiatives and Measures Adopted by
the European Union, 24, International Community Law Review, 57-78.......................................................33
B Mihajlovic (2020), 'The Role of Consumers in the Achievement of Corporate Sustainability through
Reduction of Unfair Commercial Practices', 12 Sustainability, 1-20, read pp. 6-17......................................36
C Bright and N Bueno, Mandatory human rights due diligence, in: A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and
Human Rights, Edward Elgar Publishing 2023, p. 144-155, available via keylinks........................................38
Week 2 – Lecture..............................................................................................................41
The evolution of CSR in EU law and policy...................................................................................41
Relevant Policy Documents...........................................................................................................................41
The genealogy of a concept...........................................................................................................................41
Substance: Sustainability & business and human rights...............................................................................41
Form: Since 2011...The legal fields................................................................................................................41
Regulating CSR Transparency......................................................................................................42
Two approaches.............................................................................................................................................42
Regulation through reporting - “Soft obligation”..........................................................................................43
Consumer Law & Market Transparency........................................................................................................44
EU Mandatroy Due Diligence Legislation.....................................................................................44
Origin & substance of due diligence concept................................................................................................44
From transparency to due diligence in the EU..............................................................................................44
Specifics of Due Diligence and Debates - Scope............................................................................................45
Debate – Material Scope................................................................................................................................45
Sanctions – Diversity......................................................................................................................................45
Civil liability - An intense discussion..............................................................................................................46
The long process towards the CSDDD............................................................................................................46
Week 3 – Tutorial – CSR under Globalisation: Corporate Personality, Governance Gap,
International Soft and Hard Law.......................................................................................47
Tutorial tasks..............................................................................................................................47
Task 1: The global governance gap................................................................................................................47
Task 2: International rules on corporate social responsibility - The regulatory discussion in Business &
Human Rights.................................................................................................................................................48
Task 3: Extraterritorial Regulation.................................................................................................................50
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................50
Legal Materials...............................................................................................................................................50
A Scherer & G Palazzo (2008), Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility, in: A Crane et al (eds),
The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford University Press, 418-435......................50
A Ewing (2023), The Unites Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in: A Ewing
(ed), Teaching Business and Human Rights, Edward Elgar, 58-66, available via keylinks.............................53
Z Mikullovci (2023), Overview of the Proposed Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights, Blog of the
Center on Transnational Business and the Law, Georgetown University, 9 March 2023.............................56
L Feld (2023), A (Slight) Raise of the Bar: Due Diligence in the 2023 update of the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, Blog OECD Watch, 9 November 2023..........57
, E Umlas (2023), The OECD National Contact Point Mechanism, in: A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and
Human Rights, Edward Elgar, 204-211, available via keylinks.......................................................................58
C Omari Lichuma (2021), '(Laws) Made in the First World: A TWAIL Critique of the Use of Domestic
Legislation to Extraterritorially Regulate Supply Chains', 81 Heidelberg Journal of International Law, 497-
532, read pp. 515-532....................................................................................................................................59
Week 4 – Tutorial – Litigation against Corporations.........................................................63
Week 4 – Tasks............................................................................................................................63
Task 1: Kiobel v Shell - An landmark case on the making and failing of corporate human rights litigation. 63
Task 2: Climage Change Litigation - Constructing Cases against Carbon Majors..........................................64
Task 3: Human Rights Litigation in Tort Law - Bringing global operations into domestic courts..................67
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................68
A Ewing (2023), The Alien Torts Statute, in A Ewing (ed), Teaching Business and Human Rights, Edward
Elgar Publishing, 177-184, available via keylinks...........................................................................................68
P Simons (2023), Developments in Canada on business and human rights: One Step Forward, Two Steps
Back? 36 Leiden Journal of International Law, 363-388, read section 4-5, pp. 379-388...............................70
L. Roorda (2022), Inequality of Harms, Inequality of Arms, Verfassungsblog, 28 November 2022..............71
G. van Calster (2019/2022), Blog on the Dutch Kiobel v Shell case, on the interim decision 2019 here and
the 2022 merits decision here.......................................................................................................................72
Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell District Court of the Hague, 27 May 2021,
ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5337, ...........................................................................................................................72
Saúl Luciano Lliuya v RWE, Oberlandesgericht Hamm, Case pending on appeal, read the case summary..72
Association Notre Affaire à tous et al v Total (Total/Climate Change Case), Paris Judicial Tribunal, 06 July
2023, read the case summary........................................................................................................................73
Watch the video of L Burgers & P Paiement on Climate Change Litigation against Private Actors,
available here (Video 6).................................................................................................................................73
E Aristova (2021), The Future of Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations in the English Courts: Is
Forum [Non] Conveniens Back?, 6 (3) Business and Human Rights Journal 399-422, read pp. 407-422.....75
Week 4 – lecture – Human Rights, Climate Change, and National Tort Law......................77
Human Rights Litigation..............................................................................................................77
The Bhopal case.............................................................................................................................................77
Kiobel v Shell..................................................................................................................................................77
Litigating for international obligations: ATS in the US...................................................................................78
Litigation II: State of play outside the US.......................................................................................................78
Nevsun Resources v Araya, 2020 SCC 5.........................................................................................................79
Climate change litigation.............................................................................................................79
Milieudefensie v Shell, Hague District Court, 26/05/21................................................................................79
The next claim: Milieudefensie v ING............................................................................................................80
Lluyia v RWE...................................................................................................................................................80
County of San Mateo v Chevron....................................................................................................................80
Notre Affairs à Tous and others v Total.........................................................................................................81
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................81
Private international law in litigation..........................................................................................81
Issues with CSR-litigation through private international law........................................................................81
Private international law and corporate litigation........................................................................................81
Week 5 – Tutorial – CSR in corporate groups....................................................................82
, Tutorial Tasks..............................................................................................................................82
Task 1: Corporate groups, limited liability and theories of group liability:...................................................82
Task 2: Corporate group liability for human rights violations.......................................................................83
Task 3: Due diligence and liability..................................................................................................................85
Reading Materials.......................................................................................................................87
J. G. Ruggie (2018), ‘Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy’,
12 Regulation & Governance, 317-333, read pp. 317-321............................................................................87
R Mares (2019), Liability within corporate groups: Parent company's accountability for subsidiary human
rights abuses, in: S Deva and D Birchall (eds), Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business, Edward
Elgar 2020, 446-471.......................................................................................................................................87
C van Dam (2021), Breakthrough in Parent Company Liability: Three Shell Defeats, the End of an Era and
New Paradigms, 18 European Company and Financial Law Review, 714-748..............................................90
Lecture – The Use of Foreign Direct Liability Claims: An EU perspective......................................................95
Week 5 - Lecture..............................................................................................................97
The multinational corporation....................................................................................................97
Corporate groups..........................................................................................................................................97
Developments in group responsibility..........................................................................................................97
Corporate group liability.............................................................................................................97
Attribution of group responsibility: legal approaches..................................................................................97
Parent company duty of care........................................................................................................................98
Vedanta and Okpabi.....................................................................................................................................99
Four Nigerian Farmers v Shell, 29 January 2021...........................................................................................99
Jurisdiction & applicable law....................................................................................................100
What to know on private international law?...............................................................................................100
Jurisdiction..................................................................................................................................................101
Applicable law.............................................................................................................................................101
Due diligence & corporate group liability.................................................................................102
Week 6 – Tutorial – CSR and supply chain responsibility.................................................103
Week 6: tasks............................................................................................................................103
Reading materials.....................................................................................................................111
Doe v Wal-Mart Stores Inc, No. 08-55706, US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, 2009 (US).................111
P Bergkamp (2021), The Conceptual Revolution of Supply Chain Liability - Towards Corporate Social
Liability., Opinio Juris Blog, 24 June 2021....................................................................................................112
Travers & Smith Legal Briefing (2021), "Value Chain" Negligence Claims: The Door has Opened., 28 April
2021.............................................................................................................................................................113
J Salminen & M Rajavuori (2019), Transnational Sustainability Laws and the Regulation of Global Value
Chains., 26 (5) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 602-627.......................................114
readings on due diligence legislation in week 2..........................................................................................117
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Principles 3, 4, & 11-24 (including commentaries).
......................................................................................................................................................................117
the climate cases in week 4.........................................................................................................................118
Week 6 – Lecture – Responsibility for supply-chains.......................................................119
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................119
