Marking the Moment: Implementation of The Companies Act
Monday, October 1st, 2007
The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition and The Trade Justice Movement write to The Prime Minister on the implementation date of the Companies Act.
Companies Act becomes law, but Brown needs to go further to achieve targets
Leading campaign groups today welcomed the Companies Act (that becomes law on October 1), but called on Gordon Brown to make sure that the act is the first step to further reforms on the government’s thinking on business, poverty and the environment.
The Act represents the biggest shake up in company law in 150 years and will for the first time require the largest listed companies to report on their social and environmental impacts, as well as obliging company directors to take stock of their business activities’ effects on employees, communities and the environment.
But campaigners are concerned that the legislation lacks the teeth to make business live up to their obligations, and fails to ensure that they can be held to account for violating human rights and their impact on the environment and the wider society.