On 23 September, Chief Justice O’Donnell took part in the European Law Institute’s (ELI) Annual Conference in Vienna, Austria. The overarching theme of this year’s conference was Fundamental Rights and the Environment. Judges, academics, practitioners and policymakers gathered to consider how courts, legislators and other legal and institutional actors can respond to the challenges of safeguarding both the environment and fundamental rights in a time of rapid ecological, economic, political and technological change.  

Chief Justice O'Donnell participated in the panel entitled Corporate Criminal Liability in the European Union. The panel discussed the need for a more harmonised approach to holding corporations liable for crimes across the EU, and highlighted the ELI’s ongoing work to develop a framework of Model Rules on corporate criminal liability and sanctions.  

In his contribution, the Chief Justice offered a judicial perspective on the general challenges and reflections arising from the proposed Model Rules, particularly in light of the complexity of cross-border corporate structures and the risk of corporations exploiting fragmentation between jurisdictions to avoid liability. His remarks also considered the importance of harmonising rules between all European States while also at the same time avoiding over-regulation which could inhibit beneficial economic activity.  

The European Law Institute, established in 2011, is an independent, membership-based organisation dedicated to improving the quality of law and supporting its development at national, European, and international levels. Modelled on the American Law Institute (ALI), ELI brings together leading jurists from all areas of law to shape law as it should be and to promote European legal development in a global context.