The following is an extract from on-going discussions which started in October 2008 between Nick Gould, a corporate partner at Ince & Co, International Law firm, and several other interested parties. The matter has gained particular prominence this week following an article by Sir Kenneth Mac Donald a previous director of Public Prosecutor in The Times. Nick Gould is a partner in the City law firm and had spent much of the last two years or so gaining some understanding of a major piece of commercial legislation entitled “The Companies Act 2006”; the largest piece of legislation ever brought into UK law, consisting of some 1,300 sections, 16 schedules and,  200 pages of explanatory notes as well as numerous Ministerial statements, written statements, ‘Regulatory Impact Assessments’, briefs and dozens of statutory instruments to date. The Act took more than eight years of review, research and lobbying to produce, finally reaching the statute books in late 2006. It will take the best...

The King Committee on Corporate Governance was set up in 1992 in South Africa, their recomendations formed large parts of the South African Companies Bill which passed through both houses last year and will come into law in 2010.  This is a draft copy of their 3rd report; comments are welcome!

   “A lack of long-term stewardship by company heads and shareholders is at the heart of the current financial crisis, an influential think-tank says in a report published on Wednesday. Tomorrow’s Company, whose previous research has helped shape UK company law, urges the government to understand better the effects of the growing “casino economy”, where activities such as derivatives trading are often far removed from the real economy activity to which they theoretically relate. The report warns against the search for scapegoats for the current crisis and says that it is wrong to attack private equity, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds for irresponsibility, noting that different shareholders perform different functions. However, it condemns the practice of borrowing shares for voting purposes and asks if investors need to toughen up their engagement to change company behaviour or divest holdings in companies with particular shortcomings. Mark Goyder, Tomorrow’s Company...

In order for the true cost of carbon to be represented in the market, its effects on the environment must be captured like any other externality, and subject to the same laws of supply and demand, setting a dynamic price of emissions in business.This article by the Z/Yen Group examines the two primary market mechanisms available – cap-and-trade schemes, and carbon tax. For more information go to www.london-accord.co.uk