Professor Deirdre Ahern

Artificial Intelligence is transforming our society. Important cutting-edge questions need to be probed about rights, safeguards and regulatory approaches and their impact on industry and citizens. This award will provide seed funding for a new research stream on regulatory issues on Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI that are beginning to be debated around the globe.

The project arises against the backdrop of increasing interest in making companies and/or their officers liable for environmental, social and governance matters, not only in relation to the company, but also in relation to its worldwide operations and supply chain. The project focuses on study of the European Commission's Proposal for an EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence published in April 2022 (European Commission, Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence SEC (2022) 95 final). Significantly this will considerably expand the reach of corporate responsibility and directors' duties and liabilities. This EU Directive presents solutions to issues touched upon in jurisdictional tug-of-war cases concerning the potential liability for parent companies for environmental and human rights abuses of their subsidiaries. Furthermore it demands that companies integrate climate and human rights concerns into their strategy, moving away from traditional focus on profit maximisation. The project is aimed at providing a cutting-edge early stage assessment of the proposed Directive's likely impact across the EU single market. Research Objectives The objective is to build an understanding of the likely impact of the ground-breaking Directive on: (1) the development of legal duties, liabilities, and theory applicable to directors in EU Member States; and (2) an understanding how it may impact differentially on companies depending on Member State choices in implementing the Directive based on Member State law on directors' duties and also the discretion provided by the Directive around enforcement and remedies.

The Non-Financial Reporting Directive 2014/95/EU breaks new regulatory ground in requiring Member States to legislate by 6 December 2016 in relation to mandatory sustainability reporting for large companies using a 'comply or explain' model. Previously corporate social responsibility ("CSR") had been viewed as essentially voluntary by the EU for a long time and globally regulation has proved largely elusive. Nonetheless many companies have embraced CSR and have sought voluntary certification to show their engagement with sustainability. Transparent sustainability reporting provides material which enables stakeholders to engage with companies in relation to the adoption of socially responsible business practices in areas such as conditions of employment, environmental impact and human rights. Against this background, this project considers engagement with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Ireland and reporting and regulatory challenges and pitfalls. Relevant themes to be explored will include sustainability and diversity as sound business practice, the role of voluntary accreditation schemes and appropriate sustainability reporting frameworks. The project will also focus on likely regulatory outcomes of implementation of the Directive in relation to corporate sustainability disclosures will also be examined from the perspectives of both regulator and affected companies.

This project involved examining the legal and practical implications for Ireland of implementing the Shareholders' Rights Directive including issues such as proxy voting and the right of shareholders to ask questions.