PHA-Exchange> Corner House Double Victory!

[notification-l at thecornerhouse.org.uk]

Breaking News . . . 

Corner House Double Court Victory on 
UK Government Department's Anti-Bribery Rules and 
Public Interest Litigation


In November 2004, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) -- the UK's official export credit agency that gives financial guarantees to UK companies doing business abroad -- significantly weakened its rules aimed at reducing corruption

In December 2004, The Corner House instituted legal proceedings for a judicial review of this action. It claimed that the ECGD had carried out extensive and detailed consultation with its corporate customers and their representatives before changing the rules, but had not consulted The Corner House or other interested NGOs, thereby breaching its own consultation policy. 

On 13 January 2005, just as a two-day hearing in the High Court was to begin, the government agreed to instigate a full public consultation on its changes to its anti-corruption rules; to pay The Corner House's legal costs; and to make public the correspondence between three British companies (Airbus, BAe Systems and Rolls Royce) and an industry grouping, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) with the ECGD. 

The court case represents a dramatic breakthrough for non-governmental organisations representing the public interest in litigation. The Corner House was awarded an unprecedented full "protective costs order" for a judicial review of the changed rules. If The Corner House had lost the case, it would not have had to pay the government's legal costs. 

We hope to put up on the website more detailed analysis of the court case and its implications in due course. For now, however, we have included some UK press coverage to provide more information. 
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