试论在华跨国公司环境侵权的责任承担机制

On the Mechanism of Enviromental Tort Accountability of Subsidiaries of International Companies in China

跨国公司在华子公司因拥有法人地位,其法律责任的承担通常是依据《公司法》的规定,承担有限责任,但也不排除在特殊情形下适用公司法人格否认。由印度博帕尔案可以看出,在跨国公司子公司从事高污染、高环境风险生产经营行为的情形下,依照有限责任制度则可能给无过错的环境侵权债权人带来极大的不公正,有限责任制度的缺陷与困境尤其凸显。因此,在跨国公司环境责任的追究机制中,合理采纳法人人格否认责任制度是十分必要的,此外,美国在某些环境侵权的特定情形中将母公司纳入责任承担主体的范围,追究跨国公司"整体"责任的做法也值得借鉴。

Because subsidiaries of international companies in China have legal status, their limited liabilities are usually based on provisions of ＂Company Law＂, but in exceptional circumstances, we also use the disregard of corporation personality . As seen from the case of Bhopal, India, in which a subsidiary engaged in high pollution, high environmental risk, according to a limited liability system, a great mjusuce will be dilemma of limited liability system is particularly severe. Therefore, when investigte the environmental tort liability, disregard of corporate personality is necessary. In addition, in the particular case of environmental infringement, it is also worth learning that the parent companies bear the main responsibilities and international corporations take the ＂overall＂ responsibilities in the United States.