IL NUOVO DIRITTO DELLE SOCIETÀ

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1 Anno 11 Numero 7 3 aprile 2013 NORMATIVA, GIURISPRUDENZA, DOTTRINA E PRASSI IL NUOVO DIRITTO DELLE SOCIETÀ DIRETTA DA ORESTE CAGNASSO E MAURIZIO IRRERA COORDINATA DA GILBERTO GELOSA IN QUESTO NUMERO: PRESENTATION OF THE JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL LAW CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY LA DISCIPLINA CINESE SUI MARCHI ItaliaOggi

2 DIREZIONE SCIENTIFICA Oreste Cagnasso Maurizio Irrera COORDINAMENTO SCIENTIFICO Gilberto Gelosa La Rivista è pubblicata con il supporto degli Ordini dei Dottori commercialisti e degli Esperti contabili di: Bergamo, Biella, Busto Arsizio, Casale Monferrato, Crema, Cremona, Lecco, Mantova, Monza e Brianza, Verbania NDS collabora con la rivista:

3 SEZIONE DI DIRITTO FALLIMENTARE a cura di Luciano Panzani SEZIONE DI DIRITTO INDUSTRIALE a cura di Massimo Travostino e Luca Pecoraro SEZIONE DI DIRITTO TRIBUTARIO a cura di Gilberto Gelosa SEZIONE DI PUBBLICA AMMINISTRAZIONE E IMPRESA a cura di Marco Casavecchia SEZIONE DI TRUST E NEGOZI FIDUCIARI a cura di Riccardo Rossotto e Anna Paola Tonelli COMITATO SCIENTIFICO DEI REFEREE Carlo Amatucci, Guido Bonfante, Mia Callegari, Oreste Calliano, Maura Campra, Matthias Casper, Stefano A. Cerrato, Mario Comba, Maurizio Comoli, Paoloefisio Corrias, Emanuele Cusa, Eva Desana, Francesco Fimmanò, Toni M. Fine, Patrizia Grosso, Javier Juste, Manlio Lubrano di Scorpaniello, Angelo Miglietta, Alberto Musy, Gabriele Racugno, Paolo Revigliono, Emanuele Rimini, Marcella Sarale, Giorgio Schiano di Pepe COMITATO DI INDIRIZZO Carlo Luigi Brambilla, Alberto Carrara, Paola Castiglioni, Luigi Gualerzi, Stefano Noro, Carlo Pessina, Ernesto Quinto, Mario Rovetti, Michele Stefanoni, Mario Tagliaferri, Maria Rachele Vigani, Ermanno Werthhammer REDAZIONE Maria Di Sarli (coordinatore) Paola Balzarini, Alessandra Bonfante, Maurizio Bottoni, Mario Carena, Marco Sergio Catalano, Alessandra Del Sole, Massimiliano Desalvi, Elena Fregonara, Sebastiano Garufi, Stefano Graidi, Alessandro Monteverde, Enrico Rossi, Cristina Saracino, Marina Spiotta, Maria Venturini HANNO COLLABORATO A QUESTO NUMERO Emanuela Bianco, Matteo Cagnasso, Oreste Calliano Stefano Ferrero

4 INDICE EDITORIALE Presentazione della Rivista cinese The Journal of Oriental Law 9 STUDI E OPINIONI Much Ado About Nothing? The Corporate Social Responsibility as Metaphor of Emerging Humanization of Transnational Contracts Law in Global Markets di Oreste Calliano Pag. 12 TRUST E NEGOZI FIDUCIARI The Scope and the Effects of Mandatory Rules and Public Policy under the 1985 Hague Convention of the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition di Stefano Ferrero OSSERVATORIO INTERNAZIONALE The Chinese Trademark Law di Matteo Cagnasso COMMENTI A SENTENZE La capogruppo holding è responsabile per gli atti di contraffazione commessi dalle sue controllate? Sì, secondo una recente pronuncia del Tribunale delle imprese di Torino di Emanuela Bianco SEGNALAZIONI DI DIRITTO COMMERCIALE 89 SEGNALAZIONI DI DIRITTO TRIBUTARIO 92 MODALITÀ DI ABBONAMENTO

5 SOMMARIO EDITORIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA Presentazione della Rivista cinese The Journal of Oriental Law STUDI E OPINIONI Much Ado About Nothing? The Corporate Social Responsibility as Metaphor of Emerging Humanization of Transnational Contracts Law in Global Markets The Author analyzes the evolution of the Corporate Social Responsibility, from the 70 to the present crisis, open to the search of new paradigms in company legal strategies, presenting it as a metaphor of the development of new transnational contracts law in global markets, respecting human rights and social issues. di Oreste Calliano TRUST E NEGOZI FIDUCIARI The Scope and the Effects of Mandatory Rules and Public Policy under the 1985 Hague Convention of the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition The 1985 Hague Convention is an important legal tool in the area of private international law, creating a new bridge between the so-called trust and non-trust States. In dealing with the determination of the law applicable to trusts and their recognition, the Convention envisages some limits, such as mandatory rules and public policy. The present work considers the scope and the effects of the relevant provisions of the Hague Convention (namely, arts. 15, 16 and 18) and, through a survey of the interpretations given by scholars and national judges, aims at answering a fundamental question: do these limitations pose a real threat to the actual operation of the Hague Convention? di Stefano Ferrero 5

6 SOMMARIO OSSERVATORIO INTERNAZIONALE La legge sui marchi della Repubblica popolare cinese La legge sui marchi cinese è stata emendata nel L Ufficio Marchi è responsabile della registrazione e dell amministrazione dei marchi, il Consiglio per la revisione e l aggiudicazione dei marchi è responsabile per le dispute sui marchi. Un marchio presentato per la registrazione dovrà mostrare caratteristiche evidenti e dovrà risultare facilmente distinguibile, e non dovrà confliggere con i diritti legittimamente ottenuti in precedenza da altri. Il diritto esclusivo di impiegare un marchio registrato sarà limitato ai marchi registrati previa approvazione, e ai beni per i quali il marchio registrato è stato approvato. Se uno straniero o società straniera intende presentare domanda di registrazione di un marchio, o gestire questioni relative ai marchi in Cina, devono fare affidamento su un'organizzazione riconosciuta dallo Stato e qualificata per servire come un agente marchi. Chiunque può, entro tre mesi dalla data in cui viene annunciato un marchio, sollevare obiezioni. L'utente di un marchio è responsabile della qualità dei prodotti su cui viene utilizzato il marchio. Per l assegnazione di un marchio registrato, l'assegnatario dovrà garantire la qualità dei prodotti su cui viene utilizzato il marchio. Il licenziante deve vigilare sulla qualità dei prodotti su cui il licenziatario utilizza il suo marchio registrato, e il licenziatario dovrà garantire la qualità dei prodotti sui quali il marchio registrato deve essere utilizzato. Nel caso in cui marchi registrati siano utilizzati per merci grossolanamente prodotte, spacciate per prodotti di qualità, in modo da ingannare i consumatori, l'ufficio Marchi potrà revocare suddetti marchi. Il Dipartimento amministrativo per l'industria e il commercio ha il potere di indagare su qualsiasi atto violi il diritto esclusivo di uso di un marchio registrato. di Matteo Cagnasso COMMENTI A SENTENZE La capogruppo holding è responsabile per gli atti di contraffazione commessi dalle sue controllate? Sì, secondo una recente pronuncia del Tribunale delle imprese di Torino La sentenza affronta il tema della contraffazione indiretta con particolare riferimento al caso dei gruppi di imprese, esaminando quale ruolo rivesta la holding e come si configuri l elemento soggettivo in capo alla stessa. di Emanuela Bianco 6

7 INDEX-ABSTRACT EDITORIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA Presentation of The Journal of Oriental Law 9 Pag. STUDIES AND OPINIONS Much Ado About Nothing? The Corporate Social Responsibility as metaphor of emerging humanization of transnational contracts law in global markets The Author analyzes the evolution of the Corporate Social Responsibility, from the 70 to the present crisis, open to the search of new paradigms in company legal strategies, presenting it as a metaphor of the development of new transnational contracts law in global markets, respecting human rights and social issues. by Oreste Calliano 12 TRUST E FIDUCIARY AGREEMENTS The scope and the effects of mandatory rules and public policy under the 1985 Hague Convention of the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition The 1985 Hague Convention is an important legal tool in the area of private international law, creating a new bridge between the so-called trust and non-trust States. In dealing with the determination of the law applicable to trusts and their recognition, the Convention envisages some limits, such as mandatory rules and public policy. The present work considers the scope and the effects of the relevant provisions of the Hague Convention (namely, arts. 15, 16 and 18) and, through a survey of the interpretations given by scholars and national judges, aims at answering a fundamental question: do these limitations pose a real threat to the actual operation of the Hague Convention? by Stefano Ferrero 35 7

8 INDEX-ABSTRACT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY The Chinese Trademark Law The Chinese Trademark Law was amended in The Trademark Office is responsible for trademarks registration and administration, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for trademarks disputes. A trademark submitted for registration shall bear noticeable characteristics and be readily distinguishable, and it may not conflict with the legitimate rights obtained by others earlier. The exclusive right to the use of a registered trademark shall be limited to trademarks which are registered upon approval and to goods the use of a trademark on which is approved. Where a foreigner or foreign enterprise intends to apply for the registration of a trademark or handle other trademark matters in China shall entrust an organization that is approved by the State and is qualified for serving as a trademark agent. Any person may, within three months from the date a trademark is announced, raise an objection. The user of a trademark shall be responsible for the quality of the goods on which the trademark is used. For a registered trademark to be assigned, the assignee shall guarantee the quality of the goods on which the registered trademark is used. The licensor shall supervise the quality of the goods on which the licensee uses his registered trademark, and the licensee shall guarantee the quality of the goods on which the registered trademark is to be used. If registered trademarks are used on coarsely manufactured goods that are passed off as quality goods, thus deceiving consumers, the Trademark Office may revoke the registered trademarks. The administrative department for industry and commerce shall have the power to investigate any act infringing upon the exclusive right to the use of a registered trademark. by Matteo Cagnasso 69 COMMENTS ON JUDGMENTS Is the holding company liable for the act of counterfeiting committed by its subsidiaries? Yes, according to a recent decision of the so-called Tribunale delle Imprese of Turin This judgment addresses the issue of indirect counterfeiting, paying specific attention to the case of groups of companies and examining what role plays the holding company and how the subjective element can be configured. by Emanuela Bianco 79 8

9 EDITORIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA Directors, Coordinators and the Scientific Committee are pleased to present the important and influential Chinese law review The Journal of Oriental Law and to announce the establishment of a close cooperation with its Editorial Department, in order to enable a dialogue and a better understanding between our legal systems. THE JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL LAW Journal of Oriental Law is sponsored by the Shanghai Law Society and the Shanghai People s Publishing House. Each issue consists of about 1500 characters per page; it is published bimonthly on the 10 th and contains about 15 academic papers. Journal of Oriental Law improves the exchange of academic ideas, for the purpose to elaborate innovative academic theories, to solve practical problems, as well as to publish manuscripts with high standards on originality and academic foresight. Its authors and readers are mainly researchers, professors and students in law, engaged in legislative, judicial, administrative and legal services staff, as well as in other groups concerned with the research in law. Journal of Oriental Law was founded in After five years it has gained a certain influence in the Chinese legal theory and pratice. In 2012, on a statistics of 96 Chinese law journals (excluding journals of China Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau), according to the records of the Chinese Academic Journal Impact Factor Annual Report, the Journal of Oriental Law has reached the fifteenth place for its influence. Journal of Oriental Law publishes law issues. Readers can subscribe from the China Post Group Corporation, or by directly contacting the Shanghai Law Society; they can also retrieve the title of an article or the author s name on Journal of Oriental Law has a Chinese directory which is published in the following website: Journal of Oriental Law accepts authors submissions. Submission requirements are published inside the back cover of the journal. Being the Journal of Oriental Law only printed in Chinese version, we hope that your contribution will be translated in Chinese. The length of each article should be about 15,000 words and contributions should be limited to the study of law. Journal of Oriental Law would like to receive articles which study, from a legal point of view, the present situation of China and help to solve practical legal problems in China s development. Editorial Department of Oriental Law March 7,

10 EDITORIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA 10

11 EDITORIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA 11

12 STUDI E OPINIONI MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS METAPHOR OF EMERGING HUMANIZATION 1 OF TRANSNATIONAL CONTRACTS LAW IN GLOBAL MARKETS The Author analyzes the evolution of the Corporate Social Responsibility, from the 70 to the present crisis, open to the search of new paradigms in company legal strategies, presenting it as a metaphor of the development of new transnational contracts law in global markets, respecting human rights and social issues. di ORESTE CALLIANO 1. The developpement and taxonomy of the Corporate Social Responsibility In 1931 A..A. Berle affirmed in the Harvard Law Review 2 that public companies managers acted as stockholder s trustees and therefore, since they were liable according to the Law of Trust, their scope was profit. In this he had been influenced by the rule of Dodge v. Ford 3, which in 1919 had stated for the first time that a corporation is organized and managed primarily in view of stockholders profits. 1 Term linked to the respect of Human Rights at global level C.A. Williams, J.M. Conley, Corporate Social Responsibility in the International Context: Is there an Emerging Fiduciary Duty to Consider Human Rights? (2005) 7, University of Cincinnaty Law Review, p.75; A. A. Dhir, Realigning the Corporate Building Blocks: Shareholder Proposals as a Vehicle for Achieving Corporate Social and Human Rights Accountability (2006) 43, American Business Law Journal, p. 365; S. Deva, Socially Responsible Business in India: Has the Elephant Finally Woken Up to the Tunes of International Trends?, Common Law World Review, 2012,p A.A.Berle, Corporate Powers as Powers in Trust, Harvard Law Review, 44, 1931, p A corporation is organized and managed primarily in view of stockholders profits. Dodge vs. Ford Motor Co., 204 Mich. 459,

13 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY E.M.Dodd replied from the same pulpit 4, arguing that large public enterprises needed by then to be considered institutions 5, i.e. a complex of rules regulating behaviours in social relationships not more and not less than the State, and therefore a social actor whose managers are not only shareholders representatives, but also fiduciaries of an entity with many constituencies (among which, apart from workers, local communities and the public opinion). The debate between the two economic lawyers continued until 1955, when Berle sensed a change of climate and, converging towards the institutional theses, admitted that managers are responsible not only for turnover, but also for the correctness of their own actions and for honesty, i.e. for the ethical character of entrepreneurial company strategies. 6 In 1975 Williamson introduced the theory of the efficient choice of enterprise control structures based on the unavoidable presence of incomplete contracts 7 and Jensen and Meckling 8 presented the Agency Theory, which sees the enterprise as a nexus of contracting relationships among many subjects, and foresees for managers (agents) the obligation not only to act in the interest of those represented (principals), but also to develop a shareholder value taking into account all bearers of interests at stake 9. From that moment the debate moved from a legal-economic round to an organizational-entrepreneurial act, and extended to the issues of the relationship between manager and organizational duties, of racial and gender discrimination on the 4 A.Baldassarre, La responsabilità etico-sociale dell impresa privata, in G.Conte (ed.), La responsabilità sociale dell impresa, Laterza, Bari, 2008, p. 28 f. 5 Within the multiplicity of definitions worked out by the various disciplines ( Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, General legal theory), the one synthesized by L. Gallino seems more comprehensive: : Complesso normativo che regola e prescrive le forme di comportamento e di condotta ( Normative complex regulating and prescribing behaviour and conduct forms - my transl.), Dizionario di Sociologia, UTET, Torino, 1978, ed.1993, p. 369; A.Panebianco, Istituzioni, organizzazioni, in L automa e lo spirito. Azioni individuali, istituzioni, imprese collettive, il Mulino, Bologna, 2009; see also A.Gambardella, L impresa e le istituzioni imprenditoriali, in N. Acocella, Istituzioni tra mercato e Stato, Carocci, Roma, 1999, p.103 ff. 6 A. A. Berle, The Twentieth Century Revolution, Macmillan, London, O. Williamson, Market and Hierarchies, New York, The Free Press,1975; Idem, The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting, New York, London, Free Press, M. C. Jensen, W. Meckling, Theory of the firm: managerial behaviour, agency costs and ownership structure, in Journal of Financial Economics,vol.3, n. 4, The multi-fiduciary approach has been defined stakeholders paradox, K.E. Goodpaste, Etica d impresa e analisi degli stakeholder, in R. E. Freeman, G. Rusconi, M. Dorigatti, Teoria degli stakeholder, Fond. ACLI milanesi, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2007, p.80 f. The text contains original contributions by U.S. and Italian authors on this issue. 13

14 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY workplace, of investments in countries not respecting civil rights, of the environmental effects of entrepreneurial decisions 10. But at the same time language becomed more indeterminate. The transplant 11 of concepts expressed by American doctrine into the continental European economic system, among which Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR- and its translation into economic-corporate language as Responsabilità Sociale d Impresa - RSI originates a polisemic and amphibological term. The Common Law doctrine highlighted various states of CSR, corresponding to different levels of responsibility 12 : a) CS Obligation, which can be translated into the respect of legal limits (criminal law, administrative law, labour law, tax law) and of the areas of enterprise activity (contract law, competition law, consumer law) 13, the infringement of which implies criminal, administrative, tax, civil responsibilities. b) CS Responsibility, responsibilities towards the expectations of society, which legally can bring to civil liability for the violation of collective or diffused interests 14, c) CS Responsiveness, need for actions preventing future risks and damages (proactive strategy) which can be connected to enterprise risk responsibility in the cases foreseen by law (product unsafety 15, product liability 16, environmental liability 17 ), 10 For an extensive view see ex multis S. Sciarelli, Etica e responsabilità sociale nell impresa, Milano, Giuffrè, For a view on the North-American debate see E. D Orazio, Responsabilità sociale ed etica d impresa, in La Responsabilità Sociale d Impresa: teorie, strumenti, casi, Politeia, n. 72, 2003, p A.Watson, Legal transplant: An Approach to Comparative Law, Scottish Acc. Press, Edimburgh, 1974, 2^ ed., Athens, Georgia, 1993, It. transl., Il trapianto di norme giuridiche. Un approccio al diritto comparato, ESI, Napoli, 1984; R.Sacco, Introduzione al diritto comparato,utet, Torino,1992, p.133; E. Grande, Imitazione e diritto: ipotesi sulla circolazione dei modelli, Giappichelli, Torino, S. P. Sethi, C. Falben, Business and Society, Lexington Books, London, O. Calliano, Legal stategies for the internationalisation of SMEs. Proactive knowledge of the legal framework and efficient use of contractual tools as a competitive advantage, in G. Tardivo (cur.) Business policies and strategies in a global market. A framework for SMEs.Cases and studies, ISASUT DEA, Torino, 2002, p. 339 ff. 14 See P. G. Monateri, Manuale della responsabilità civile, Utet, Torino, 2001; see also the very early comparative contribution of A. Gambaro (cur.) La tutela degli interessi diffusi nel diritto comparato, con particolare riguardo alla protezione dell ambiente e dei consumatori, Giuffrè, Milano, C. Joerges, Product safety law, internal market policy and the proposal for a directive on general product safety, in M. Fallon, F. Maniet (eds.), Securitè des produits et mécanismes de controle dans la communauté européenne, Story Scientia, Bruxelles, 1993, pp ; H.W. Micklitz, S. Weatherhill, Consumer Policy in the European Community: before and after 14

15 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY d) ) CS Sustainability, that need a strategy directed 18 at the evaluation of the impact of firm s activity on future risks/damages (innovation, joined effects in production process and in product use) which can not always be calculated and quantified yet, with the adoption by States of the precautionary principle 19, and by corporations of the principle of cautiousness, actionable before the European Court of Justice ( BSE case) or International Courts. e) CS Accountability, responsibility for missing or inadequate information to shareholders and,if the case, may be to other primary stakeholders ( responsibility for social or environmental balance sheet) 20, f) CS Issues Management, responsibility for change of corporate policies which were declared, promised and not enacted or modified (case EPIC v. Facebook) 21. As it appears, various levels of CSR exist, and not always they correspond to the traditional concept of civil liability based on the principles of social sanction, punishment, deterrence, compensation, risk distribution 22. Maastricht, in N. Reich, G. Woodroffe (eds.) European Consumer Policy after Maastricht, Kluwer, Dordrecth, 1994, p O. Calliano, Responsabilità del produttore,circolazione dei modelli e tutele processuali, in G. Autorino (cur.), Diritto comunitario,comparato e transnazionale, Department of Law of civil and economic relationships in contemporary legal systems, Univ.of Salerno, 2000, II, p.223 ff.. 17 R. Ferrara, F. Fracchia, N. Olivetti Rason, Diritto dell ambiente, Laterza, Bari, On the origin and development of the sustainable progress idea, S.Maffettone, La pensabilità del mondo. Filosofia e governanza globale, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 2006, cap.vi. On political aspects, Christie,D.Warburton,, From here to Sustanibility. Politics in the Real World, The Real World Coalition, Earthscan Publ., London-Sterling VA,2001; R. Paltrinieri, M. L. Parmigiani, Sostenibilità ed etica?per una analisi socioeconomica della responsabilità sociale d impresa, Carocci, Roma, Com.CE ; D.Freestone,E.Hey, The Precautionary Principle and International Law. The Challenge of Implementation, Kluwer, The Hague,1966; G.Commandé (cur.) Gli strumenti della precauzione: nuovi rischi, assicurazione e responsabilità, Giuffrè Milano, F. Perrini, Responsabilità sociale d impresa, Egea, Milano, 2006; M. Cisi, Il bilancio ambientale, Giappichelli, Case EPIC In re Facebook The Electronic Privacy Information Center turned to the Federal Trade Commission against the changement of privacy policy by Facebook. Users personal data, initially guaranteed in terms of safety and confidentiality, have been distributed by the social network to third parties such as Microsoft, Help,Pandora. 22 G.Ponzanelli,La responsabilità civile.profili di diritto comparato,il Mulino,Bologna,

16 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 2. Corporate ethics and market law As has been highlighted 23, CSR is a different concept from Business Ethics 24. Business Ethics is included in the wider category of practical ethics. 25 The crossroad of the relationships between Ethics and Law 26 is one of the most busy and multidirectional on the philosophical, anthropological, sociologic, economic and general Law theory playing field. 27 From a comparative, factual approach 28 point of view, one can, for a start, observe that the relationships between business ethics and behaviours subject to legal evaluation can not be superposed: not anything that is ethical is legal, just as not anything that is legal is ethical. To this point, one can look at the case of the payment of a sum of money in order to make a contractual relationship run smoother. If we indicate on the abscissa what is ethical/non ethical, and on the ordinate what is legal/illegal, we will have these four hypotheses: legal illegal ethical commission payment of ransom non ethical private cut corruptive sum 23 E.Epstein,Business Ethics,Corporate Good Citizenship and the Corporate Social Policy Process:A View from the United States,Journal of Business Ethics,1989, pages ; L.Sacconi, Etica degli affari. Individui,imprese e mercati nella prospettiva di un etica razionale,milano,il Saggiatore,1991. Particularly chapter On this issue, see the classic W.M.Hoffman, R. E. Frederick, M.S. Schwartz, Business Ethics, Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality, McGraw-Hill, New York, 4 th ed., 2000 ; on CSR O. C. Ferrel, J. Fraedrich,L. Ferrel, Business Ethics. Ethical Decision Making and Cases, Houghton Mifflin Co.,Boston,New York,4 th ed.,2000, E.Lecaldano,Etica,Utet,Torino,1995,2nd ed.tea,1996,6.2. Il diritto e i sistemi codificati, pages 110 and following. 26 For a first analysis see Carlos Santiago Nino,Derecho,moral y politica. 1994, Italian translation Diritto come morale applicata,giuffrè,milan, See the various contributions of the Centre de recherche en éthique économique et des affaires de la Fac. de droit d Aix-Marseille, among which J.Y.Naudet,Éthique des affaires:de l éthique de l entrepreneur au droit des affaires, in which O.Calliano,Protection des consommateurs et éthique économuique, pages 275 and following. Librairie de l Université, Aix-en- Provence,1997. The recent thought of Amartya Sen broadens horizons: The Idea of Justice,Penguins Books, London,2009, Italian translation L idea di giustizia, Mondatori, Milan, R. Sacco, Introduzione al diritto comparato, UTET,Torino,

17 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY One can deduce that corporate and/or managers ethics are useful/necessary in the hypotheses of legally acceptable, but socially and/or morally unacceptable/unaccepted behaviours. Corporate ethics can therefore carry out, in relation to law, various functions, among which it is useful to remember: a) Value function. The ethical discourse points out the values on which legal rules are based (for example constitutional values: protection of work, protection of savings, protection of health, protection of corporate activity), b) Pre-legal function. In the ethical debate, social groups experiment, within new sectors, values and principles awaiting to be worked out into legal rules (for example the debate on bioethics) 29. c) Trans-legal function. In the comparison among various social systems, common ethical principles are worked out (doctrine of natural law and human rights) 30, or in the exchange among actors underlying different legal systems (Civil Law, Common Law, Muslim Law, Traditional Law) 31 common legal-ethical principles are worked out (for example the value of promise) 32. d) Hermeneutical function. Ethics are one of the interpretative tools of law and its formants 33 (legislation, judge made law, customs, legal scholars). Corporate ethics can be used in order to give a meaning to contractual good faith, to information transparency, to fairness towards consumers. 3. The transition towards new paradigms The financial-economic crisis which has struck the United States, virally spreading to Europe and to the financial markets of the entire developed world is 29 S.Rodotà, La vita e le regole.tra diritto e non diritto,feltrinelli,milan, A. Passerin d Entreves,La dottrina del diritto naturale,edizioni di Comunità,Milan,1962; N.Bobbio,Giusnaturalismo e positivismo giuridico,comunità,milano, For all R.David,C.Jauffret-Spinosi, Les grandes Systèmes de droit contemporains Dalloz,Paris,11th ed., Italian translation I grandi sistemi giuridici contemporanei, Calliano,Cendon,Citarella,La Rosa, Sacco (dir.),cedam,padova,2004; A.Gambaro, R.Sacco,Sistemi giuridici comparati, Utet, Torino,2nd ed., R.Sacco, Alla ricerca dell origine dell obbligazione,in Antropologia giuridica,il Mulino,Bologna,2007,p.277. The promise, the connection between I and You, therefore the transition from the biologic brain to the mental I is put at the base of sociality by E.Bonicelli, M. Di Francesco,Che fine ha fatto l Io, chapter L io e la responsabilità, ESR,Rome, R. Sacco, Il concetto di interpretazione del diritto,torino,giappichelli,1947, reprint with introduction by A.Gambaro, Giappichelli,Torino,2003 and idem,l interpretazione,in Le fonti del diritto italiano.le fonti non scritte e l interpretazione, Utet, Torino,1999 pages 159 and following. 17

18 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY considered a not only economic, but primarily cultural crisis 34, which will require a very long transition, probably covering a manager s entire working life 35. Beeing the comparative scholar a factualist and not a foreseer, I keep to highlighting the data emerging from some first glance analyses 36. a) Trust relationships between enterprise and consumers have changed, consumption has gone down and settled on essential essential goods and services and/or status consumption, which is variable and therefore not easy for a company to plan 37. From this, the deduction of the need for a radical change in the relationships between enterprise and consumers, able to fully develop the aspects of relational capital with all internal stakeholders, to the scope of creating cooperation and company loyalty directed at socio-economic aims (keeping jobs, product and service quality in a more correct quality-price relationship, rationalization of distribution systems, innovation not only of products and processes but also of organization, involving all interested actors). 34 The term crisis shows its legal origin. It comes from the Greek κρινό which means judging by a jury: i.e. deciding,de-caedere, cut the knot, as in French trancher l affaire. The term has evolved, in medical language, to indicate the state of an organism faced with sickness up to a catastrophic point, indeed a critical point, which put sit into danger pushing it to react and take a decision to survive or die. Healing implies not a re-elaboration of the past, which would lead to a new crisis, but a new condition, bio-psichic innovation. Critical condition, innovative elaboration, decision are the anthropologic elements of the crisis. V. M.Serres,Temps des crises,le Pommier, Paris, 2009, Italian translation Tempo di crisi,bollati Boringhieri,Torino, Developing new socio-cultural paradigms, such as the changing of consumption outlook, the developing of a social coordination /cooperation ability, the establishing of an evaluated social trust attitude needs a different educational approach, that, from the cognitive point of view start from the early childhood as the mirror neurons theory explains -, G. Rizzolati, C. Sinigaglia, So quello che fai. Il cervello che agisce e i neuroni specchio, Milano, 2006; G. Rizzolati, M. Fabbri-Destro, The mirror system and its role in social cognition, in Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 18(2), 2008, , and, as the affective logic theory suppose, involves earlier emotional and later logic cognitions, developed by parents-sons relationships, L. Ciompi, L ipotesi della logica affettiva, in G. Vallar (ed.), Apprendimento e memoria, Le Scienze, quaderni, n.82, 1995, 58 ff. 36 From a managerial point of view see, Oltre la crisi, Harward Business Review Italia 2009;for a legal point of view see R. A. Posner, A Failure of Capitalism. The Crisis of 08 and the Descent to Depression, Harvard College, MA, 2009, Ital. transl.., Un fallimento del capitalismo. La crisi finanziaria e la seconda Grande depressione, Codice,Torino, M.C.Martinengo, Il nuovo consumatore.un cambiamento che viene da lontano,in Micro & Macro Marketing 2009; p. 91 and following ; G.P.Fabris,La società postcrescita,, above; G.Sertorio,M.C.Maertinengo,Consumare.Lineamenti di sociologia dei consumi, Giappichelli, Torino,

19 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY b) Company organization appears to be unfit for the challenger of the crisis, and one deduces that it will tend to change according to dimensions, internal structure, governance varying according to products, markets, stakeholder quality 38. Volatility of stock exchange investment, mainly in connection with catastrophic events, will lead to working out medium-long term strategies, controlled by internal, independent and stable governance systems, involving middle management, workforce and consumers in the strategic process 39. d) The illusion that the efficient market is the free market, a market with minimal regulations, appears to be substituted by the idea that the free market is the market of free competition, i.e. the market guaranteed by area regulations (antitrust rules) and by rules of law worked out by judges in order to solve critical cases and to develop an efficient market law. An efficient market is in fact a well regulated market, not a market without rules (see post-soviet Russia) or with inadequate rules and controls (sub primes crisis in USA 40 ). e) In order to contribute to the development of an adequate and efficient market law (national, European, trans-national) the transnational legal scholar can not any more be just the legal scholar of the nineteenth century of the time of codifications, devoted to interpreting law and its enforcement (hermeneutic function), nor the legal scholar of the twentieth century, aiming at interpreting opposed interests in society in order to let the interest deserving more protection prevail (evaluation function), but he must also be a scholar of legal strategies stressed by the continuous technological, economic and financial, managerial and organizational innovations: This new jurist must be oriented to contribute, using interdisciplinary methods and open dialogue with other social science contributions, in designing legal-economic frameworks developing values, principles and rules suitable for innovation and socio-economic change, but preserving human rights and specificity of each legal traditions ( legal strategies elaboration function ) Harward Business Review Italia,Oltre la crisi, C. Mayer, Firm Commitment.Why the corporation is failing us and how to restore trust in it, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013 who, remarking that the CSR of big industrial and financial groups is effective as a plaster on a purulent wound, suggest a tree items agenda for restoring trust in corporation : a) values publicly proclaimed by firm stakeholders and transferrable to new generations of stockholders and managers b) more control on managing directors as trust agent of stockholders and of potential investors c) refusal of the right of vote to short term investors, not interested in a long term strategy. 40 G. Mulgan, The Locust and the Bee. Predators and Creators in Capitalism s Future, Princeton Univ.Press, 2013, assert that the capitalism must be civilized, even if institutions and civil society beat it black and blue, i.e. evolving radically the company law and transforming the corporation system in a responsible capitalism 41 See my Legal strategies, as above. 19

20 STUDI E OPINIONI CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Fundamentally, it s about participating, in a pronoietic 42 function, in working out new paradigms in which market law plays an essential role, in terms of linguistic precision, hermeneutic criteria and translation of values into operational rules. On the other hand, legal scholars need to get acquainted, and in part they have already done it, with the methodologies and instruments of social disciplines such as economic analysis of law, managerial analysis of legal choices, economic and social psychology, economic sociology and anthropology, economic history The role of debate on values as fundament of new legal rules It can be assumed that the debate on ethic problems comes up in moments of crisis and at times of transition from aged paradigms to new paradigms. 44 In these phases the uncertainty about behavioural rules considered to be obsolete, but not yet substituted, opens the search for new rules founded on new principles based on shared values. Some sketching examples on the historical process of development of the company law 45, using an enthimemathic approach 46, may present the evolution from values to legal rules. The economic crisis in 1300 (plague pandemic, famines, wars, consequent restriction of internal demand, as well as closure of Asian markets) brought medieval merchants from the exaltation of the risk paradigm 47 to a more careful development of technological innovation (watches, cannons, portolano) and to working out the values of circumspection and prudence as criteria of moral behaviour. The commentator Bartolo 42 The adoption of the term πρόνοια, prescience, prevision, prophecy, indicates a mental attitude which is not only reasonable, but also strategic, and founds its evaluations, which can be changed and improved, on intuitive intelligence. 43 The role and formation of a legal scholar are re-examined in critical terms by M.Vogliotti,Tra fatto e diritto:oltre la modernità giuridica,giappicjhelli,torino,2007; for the formation of a legal scholar of European dimension see L.Moccia (cur..),i giuristi e l Europa,Laterza,Bari,1997. For an olistic approach, that links scientific, social and humanistic disciplines ( such as literature and music) see various contributions in Atti del Congresso ISLL, Il contributo di Law and Humanities nella formazione del giurista, Benevento 31 maggio 2012, amongst my L educazione musicale come base per la formazione del giurista europeo, under publication. 44 F. Espamer,Paura di cambiare,crisi e critica del concetto di cultura,donzelli,roma, G. Cottino, Il diritto commerciale tra antichità, Medioevo e tempo presente: una riflessione critica, in G. Bonfante, G. Cottino, L imprenditore, vol.1 del Trattato di diritto commerciale, dir. da G. Cottino, Cedam, Padova, 2001, p. 287 ff. 46 Is an example, in a rethoric syllogism, to persuade using likelihoods and signs (Aristotle). On the use of rhetorics in historical interpretation see L. Canfora, L uso politico dei paradigmi storici,bari, Laterza, B. Z. Zedar, Mercanti in crisi a Genova e Venezia nel 300, Jouvence, Roma,