UK Plans To Introduce 'Corporate Killing' Offence

by Robin Pilgrim, LawandTax-News.com, London

28 May 2003

The UK Government announced its plans for a new law on 'corporate killing' last week, but reaction from many lawyers has been lukewarm or negative, with most commentators saying that the proposed legislation is too feeble to achieve much.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said that under the new legislation, to be enacted later this year, companies would face unlimited fines if found guilty of the new offence of corporate killing. Mr Blunkett said that there was "great public concern at the criminal law's lack of success in convicting companies of manslaughter where a death has occurred due to gross negligence by the organisation as a whole". Controversially, however, the law will not allow the targeting of individual company directors for the 'unlawful killing' offence.

Some lawyers point to the Enterprise Act 2002, under which individual directors face unlimited fines, disqualification and possible imprisonment for breaches of competition law or financial wrongdoing, and ask why health and safety offences should not have the same consequences.

The answer may be that the government has been cowed by a barrage of criticism from business over taxation and regulation, and fears to enrage the business lobby any further. But the Unions will be angry instead, since they were instrumental in creating the original plans for the legislation, which included the disqualification of individual directors.

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