World’s strictest corporate responsibility plan fails in Swiss vote

Source: AFP Published: 2020/11/30 18:58:40

A plan in Switzerland to impose the world's strictest corporate responsibility rules, which would have made Switzerland-headquartered multinationals liable for abusive business practices worldwide, failed to pass in a vote on Sunday.

Gerenal view of Geneva Photo: VCG

The proposal would have amended the Swiss constitution and forced such companies to ensure they and their suppliers respected strict human rights and environmental protection standards.

But it failed to reach the double majority required for initiatives to pass, under federal Switzerland's system of direct democracy. Initiatives require support from a majority of voters nationwide, and from a majority of Switzerland's 23 cantons, three of which are split in half.

While Swiss voters overall backed the initiative by a very narrow margin, a majority in most cantons voted against it - only the 10th time in 637 votes that such an outcome has occurred. Some 1,299,173 voters, or 50.7 percent, backed the initiative, according to the official results. The turnout was 47 percent.

However, it only achieved a majority in eight and a half cantons - including the four major cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel and the capital Bern - with the rest voting against. 

The initiative was launched by an alliance of 130 nongovernmental organizations and had the backing of trade unions and church groups.

It was opposed by both the government and parliament, which warned that while its intention was good, the proposed legislation went "too far."

The rejection by voters automatically activated the government's counter-proposal, which also requires companies to report on rights, environmental protections and corruption issues.

Multinationals are important drivers of the Swiss economy, which at the end of 2018 numbered close to 29,000, accounting for more than a quarter of all jobs in the country.

Posted in: EUROPE

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