The extraterritorial scope of the (new) German legal regime for sanctions against companies

Abstract

In contrast to the current law (1), the German draft law on corporate sanctions (VerSanG-E) provides for a considerable extension of the extraterritorial scope of the German corporate sanctions law (3). While the draft has not been adopted in the last parliamentary period, its implementation is also considered in the “coalition agreement” (Koalitionsvertrag) of the new German federal government (Bundesregierung). It is submitted in this paper that such an extension is objectively justified, but should be more clearly regulated (4). In this context the United Nations (UN) Draft Treaty on “Business and Human Rights” is also of interest; it aims —parallel to the German discussion— to establish a comprehensive regulation of the jurisdictional regime for corporate human rights violations from the perspective of international law (2).