Private Actors
While the economy has gone global in recent decades, laws aiming to regulate the behaviour of businesses largely remain tied to state territory. As a result, companies operating across borders are bound by a myriad of laws and rules in the various countries where they operate. This inefficient regulatory environment increases the administrative burden on corporations, while states are confronted with the ineffectiveness of mere national rules.
Regulatory and legal voids are increasingly filled by transnational companies through corporate codes aimed at enhancing their industry’s reputation and sustainability. Such self-regulation leads to common standards in fields like health and accounting, but also on social issues like labour conditions and the environment. Over time, such rules evolve to a global standard, acquiring an almost legal status as “soft law”.
The 2008 global financial crisis has left politicians and social leaders calling for tighter rules and stricter enforcement of the behaviour of multinational companies in the banking industry and beyond. In this drive for bolstered regulation, both private and public actors could potentially benefit from a form of co-regulation, with global validity. As state institutions are brought back into the discussion about regulation of private actors, the cardinal questions studied with HiiL-funded research include: How can private actors in today’s globalised world be regulated in such a way that rules are efficient for companies and effective for the public? What are the prospects for a mix of public and private co-regulation? How desirable is self-regulation by private actors?
Research projects
- Private Transnational Regulation: Constitutional Foundations and Governance Design
- National Resistance against the Europeanisation of Private Law
See also
- Visiting Chair on Private Actors and Globalisation
- UM-HiiL Chair on the Internationalisation of Law
- Hague Public-Private Governance Network
Contact Information
Dr Tineke Lambooy | Theme Coordinator Private Actors
+31 70 349 4405 | tineke.lambooy@hiil.org
'One of the most visible aspects of globalisation is the unhindered movement of people, corporations and capital across national borders. A fascinating other side of globalisation is our increased awareness of distressing situations worldwide. IT and modern media have thus enhanced our knowledge of adverse corporate behaviour in other countries, for instance in the clothing and extractive industries. As voices to improve corporate behaviour grow stronger, corporate social responsibility instruments have been bolstered and adopted in various industries. Such private “soft-law” is becoming ever more important, it’s a new and exciting approach for legal scholars!' Prof. Tineke Lambooy