ABSTRACT
In this chapter we focus on the potential criminal liability of corporations, with references to nanotechnology (Wells, 2001; Wells and Elias, 2005). This contrasts with corporations’ private or civil law liability for personal injury and with the wider notion of corporate social responsibility. The emerging debate about corporate criminal responsibility will inevitably have relevance to the global development of nanotechnology. Events such as pharmaceutical harms, environmental damage, transport disasters and chemical plant explosions have led to calls for those enterprises to be prosecuted for manslaughter. Other forces shaping the evolution of legal principles of attribution of responsibility at state and international levels include the pressure to hold businesses accountable for human rights violations and the more business focused drive against corruption by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU).
