Diligence en matière de droits de l’homme et responsabilité de l’entreprise?: Le point en droit suisse (Nicolas Bueno)

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights define the due diligence that business enterprises should conduct regarding human rights, including when they operate abroad through a subsidiary or a supplier. Since their adoption in 2011, legal scholars have been questioning the relationship between this due diligence and corporate liability. This article first presents the work recently done by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to clarify this link. It then shows some legal uncertainty in recent case-law of foreign domestic courts. Based on these international developments, this article finally identifies some gaps in civil and criminal corporate liability in Switzerland. It explains the debate regarding the counter-proposal to the popular initiative on responsible business and shows how the counter-proposal can enhance legal certainty regarding the link between due diligence and liability in Switzerland.