Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T13:06:14.500Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shareholders' Liability in International Organizations-The Settlement of the International Tin Council Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2009

Carsten Thomas Ebenroth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The financial collapse of the International Tin Council (ITC) in 1985 raised three fundamental legal questions. Firstly, whether the granting of legal personality to an organization under international law by means of an international agreement always carries with it the limited liability of the organization. Secondly, it must be asked whether agreements to establish an international entity based on the statutes of international law are never subject to national jurisdiction. And thirdly, consideration is needed of the precautions to be taken in the future in order to avoid this kind of financial collapse. The answers to these questions have to consider that the international organizations have changed the emphasis of their activities from the perception of sovereign duties over the economic field where they rely on trust and cooperation with private enterprises. Due to this situation a distinction must be made between acts of state and activities under civil law. There is no principle at all in international or private law according to which the granting of international personality or legal capacity involves sole liability. Also the Act of State doctrine is not suited to protect the FTC or its member states from recourse to the court by private creditors in the case of civil acts. To realise the aim of creating a new and more equitable economic order and to improve the necessary credit standing, the statutes of the internationalorganizations must also contain improved control mechanisms.

Type
Leading Articles
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , September 1991 , pp. 171 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. See.Art. 1 of the Sixth International Tin Agreement(hereafter abbreviated as ITA);see also,Chimni, B.S., International Commodity Agreements, 1986, A legal study; M.A.G. van Meerhaeghe, International Economic Law 146 (1987);Google ScholarGordon-Ashworth, F., International Commodity Control 72 (1983).Google Scholar

2. See, Ebenroth, C.T., Fuhrmann, L., Die zivilrechtliche Haftung internationaler Organisationen undihrer Mitgliedsstaaten, JZ 211 (1989);Google ScholarEbenroth, C.T., Fuhrmann, L., Die Haftung der EG anläβlich der Zahlungsunfähigkeit des Internationalen Zinnrats, RIW 593 (1989);Google ScholarWassermann, U., Tin and Other Commodities in Crisis, 20 JWTL 232 (1986);Google ScholarMcFadden, E.J., The Collapse of Tin: Restructuring a Failed Commodity Agreement, 80 AJIL 811 (1986).Google Scholar

3. In re International Tin Council, 2 Weekly Law Report 1229 (1987); Maclaine Watson & Co. Ltd. v. ITC, 3 Weekly Law Report 508 (1987); House of Lords in: The Times, 27th of October 1989, Law Report, p. 36; See also, Schermers, H.G., Liability of International Organizations, 1 LJIL 3 (1988).Google Scholar

4. Case 241/87: see, Ebenroth, C.T., Fuhrmann, L., Die Haftung der EG anläβlich der Zahlungsunfähigkeit des Internationalen Zinnrats, RIW 595 (1989).Google Scholar

5. Hoffmeyer, M., Schrader, J.-V., Tewes, T., Internationale Rohstoffabkommen 24 (1988);Google ScholarSeidl-Hohenveldern, I., International Economic “Soft Law”, II Recueil des Cours 165 (1979).Google Scholar

6. 1.Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law 663 (1973); Mann, F.A., Die juristische Person des Völkerrechts, 152 ZHR 303, 306 (1988).Google Scholar

7. Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbalino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964); First National City Bank v. Banco Nacional de Cuba. 406 U.S. 759 (1972); Ebenroth, C.T., Banking on the Act of State 17 (1985).Google Scholar

8. Dominicé, C., L'immunitié de jurisdiction et d'exécution des organisations internationales, IV Recueil desCours 145, 192(1984).Google Scholar

9. Meerhaeghe, M.A.G. van. International Economic Institutions 139 (1988);Google ScholarSchermers, H.G., International Institutional Law 1395 (1980);Google ScholarThemaat, P. VerLoren van, The changing structure of International Economic Law 67 (1985).Google Scholar

10. Award of May 5, 1984 in re Westland Helicopters v. Arab Organization for Industrialization, I.L.M. 1071(1984).

11. Hoffmann, G., Der Durchgriff auf die Mitgliedstaaten internationaler Organisationen, NJW 587 (1988);Google ScholarMeng, W., Internationale Organisationen im völkerrechtlichen Deliktsrecht, 45 ZaöR V 324,336 (1985).Google Scholar