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Switzerland rejects the extension of corporate liability for abuse of rights and environmental damage caused abroad.
A proposal that could have toughened sanctions against Swiss-based companies if they violated human rights or harmed the environment abroad failed in a Swiss referendum.
The initiative to change the constitution by the Responsible Business Initiative (RBI) won a narrow majority on Sunday, with 50.7% supporting it and 49.3% against, but failed because most of the country’s 23 cantons or states – of which three are divided into two – came out against it.
In the Swiss system of direct democracy, which allows voters to speak directly several times a year on a variety of issues, proposals require a majority of both the votes cast and the cantons to pass.
He only obtained a majority in eight and a half cantons – including the four big cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel and the capital, Bern – the others voting against.
The federal government opposed the plan championed by left-wing groups and some major civil society organizations, saying it went too far.
The measure could have made large companies based in Switzerland liable in the courts of the country for their defective operations or those of their subsidiaries and subcontractors in foreign countries, unless they could demonstrate that they had previously performed due diligence.
The rejection by voters automatically activated the government’s counter-proposal, which also requires companies to report rights, environmental protections and corruption issues – but without being responsible for violations.
Polarized campaign
The initiative was launched by an alliance of 130 non-governmental organizations and had the support of trade unions and religious groups.
Supporters of the rejected initiative had plastered Swiss cities with posters highlighting environmental degradation and human suffering caused by Swiss companies.
Campaigners also pointed out that pesticides long banned in Switzerland are still sold by agrochemical giant Syngenta in developing countries, and lamented the small particle pollution emanating from a cement plant owned by LafargeHolcim in Nigeria.
The government and multinationals said the proposal went too far [Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP]
The Swiss business community, as well as the government and parliament, argued that the proposed constitutional amendments could have been detrimental to all Swiss companies, not just those that behave badly.
Multinational companies are important engines of the Swiss economy, which at the end of 2018 had nearly 29,000 such companies, accounting for more than a quarter of all jobs in the country, according to official statistics.
Businesses and employers’ organizations have expressed particular concern over a provision that would have made Swiss-based businesses liable for abuses by subsidiaries unless they could prove that they had exercised due diligence.
While supporters of the rejected initiative acknowledged that most companies respect environmental rights and protections, they insisted that voluntary measures were not enough to align others.
Another measure that would have prohibited financing by the Swiss national bank or pension funds of any weapon intended for export, from handguns to assault rifles to tanks, also failed on Sunday, with a majority voters and cantons opposing it.
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