Environment, Corporations, and Private International Law in Asia

This book discusses private international law rules relevant to environmental disputes in Asia that involve corporations, surveys 12 Asian jurisdictions, and proposes areas for reform.

The volume is organised into two main parts. The first part comprises five topic-specific chapters that sets the legal context and highlights the main private international law issues that would arise in transnational environmental litigation against corporations: jurisdiction and choice of law rules relating to liability of corporations and their directors for environmental wrongdoing (management of environmental litigation risks, veil-piercing, tort claims and liability for breach of directors’ duties); the recognition and enforcement of foreign environmental judgments and awards; the interplay between domestic substantive law and private international law rules; the interaction between environmental justice and the arbitration of environmental disputes; and the role of the courts, the legislature and NGOs in advancing pro-environmental agenda.

Part II comprises 10 jurisdiction-specific chapters that: outline each jurisdiction’s private international law rules and practice in respect of environmental litigation; discuss how they advance or impede pro-environmental agenda in transnational environmental disputes; and analyse whether and how the private international law rules should be reformed to better facilitate environmental litigation. Jurisdictions covered include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.