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Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill

Oddly enough, this is probably an area best left to the judges, partly because the circumstances, in a world of globally expanding multinational and transnational corporations and organisations, are bound to give rise to many cases where the alleged gross negligence could be attributed to senior managers abroad or in the United Kingdom. I am horrified to mention the BP case again, but it illustrates the possibilities. At this stage of globalisation, we would probably not get it right if we tried to deal with jurisdiction in this Bill—except in the case of noble Lords whose imaginations were much wider than mine. There are already provisions on jurisdiction, which the courts apply, and they may or may not be sufficient; but we would have to think about jurisdiction in that much wider context. If noble Lords disagree, then by all means let us come back to it on Report and get something that is exactly right.