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Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth has won its battle to get the mandatory Operating and Financial Review (OFR) back on the agenda.
"The Government has been forced into a dramatic climb down," says the group, which had applied for a judicial review of Gordon Brown’s decision to abolish the OFR. The Government has now agreed to a new consultation on the future of company environmental reporting, including measures contained in the scrapped OFR. The Treasury has also agreed to pay Friends of the Earth's legal costs to avoid being hauled into Court.
The new consultation, due to end on 24 March, will ask whether to include OFR provisions in the draft Company Law Reform Bill which is having its first reading in the House of Lords. The Government will also consult on whether to introduce new OFR measures into law in the meantime.
Friends of the Earth's lawyer, Phil Michaels said: "This was a flagrant case of the Chancellor breaching the Government's own consultation policies and of carrying out an entirely one-sided, informal and unfair consultation. This is an important victory - but one that we should never have had to fight."
Friends of the Earth's Corporate Campaigner Craig Bennett added: "This is an important step towards greater transparency and ensuring companies can be held accountable for their environmental impacts. It is vital that MPs and the Government look very carefully at the issue of accountability under the Company Law Reform Bill, and to include a duty on directors to minimise the damage to the environment caused by their company's activities"
Other groups besides the environmental lobby may welcome the Government’s decision to take a fresh look at the OFR. Earlier this month, the vacuum left by the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the mandatory Review was labelled as a “mess” by a group of investors and expert organisations, who wrote to the DTI to express their concern.
"The Government has been forced into a dramatic climb down," says the group, which had applied for a judicial review of Gordon Brown’s decision to abolish the OFR. The Government has now agreed to a new consultation on the future of company environmental reporting, including measures contained in the scrapped OFR. The Treasury has also agreed to pay Friends of the Earth's legal costs to avoid being hauled into Court.
The new consultation, due to end on 24 March, will ask whether to include OFR provisions in the draft Company Law Reform Bill which is having its first reading in the House of Lords. The Government will also consult on whether to introduce new OFR measures into law in the meantime.
Friends of the Earth's lawyer, Phil Michaels said: "This was a flagrant case of the Chancellor breaching the Government's own consultation policies and of carrying out an entirely one-sided, informal and unfair consultation. This is an important victory - but one that we should never have had to fight."
Friends of the Earth's Corporate Campaigner Craig Bennett added: "This is an important step towards greater transparency and ensuring companies can be held accountable for their environmental impacts. It is vital that MPs and the Government look very carefully at the issue of accountability under the Company Law Reform Bill, and to include a duty on directors to minimise the damage to the environment caused by their company's activities"
Other groups besides the environmental lobby may welcome the Government’s decision to take a fresh look at the OFR. Earlier this month, the vacuum left by the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the mandatory Review was labelled as a “mess” by a group of investors and expert organisations, who wrote to the DTI to express their concern.
Date:
05.02.2006
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