The agreement between laborers, growers and buyers is unique because it resembles a legally binding contract that includes an accountability mechanism to ensure that tomato pickers will be treated and paid fairly, said Prof. Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law.
Customary international law, binding on all states, recognises that this accountability should take the form of criminal accountability, through investigations and prosecutions, and civil accountability, through the payment of compensation.
Mr. Montebourg's modest ambition is to transform the French political system: more accountability for politicians, legally binding term limits, an independent judiciary, a stronger Parliament and more referendums to put power in the hands of citizens.
Western officials and some Iraqi politicians have questioned whether the decisions by the Accountability and Justice Commission are even binding, and critics have accused its director, Ali Faisal al-Lami, of carrying out agendas of various Iraqi politicians and of Iran.
Requiring expedited votes on economically significant or controversial agency rules before they become binding on the population would reestablish congressional accountability, helping to fulfill a principle of 'no regulation without representation".'.
JALI seeks to develop the FCGH through engagement with a range of stakeholders, creating a political space for mutual and distributed accountability codified in, and enabled through, binding legal commitments (67, 68).
Giving shareholders a forward-looking, binding vote is the most simple corrective – it would inject more accountability into the system.
The Justice Department contends that the letter is "merely a general statement of policy with nonbinding effect," But Gary L. Kepplinger, general counsel of the accountability office, said administration officials had treated it as "a binding rule".
Work to strengthen accountability over time: The post-2015 agenda will be non-binding and voluntary, so there are limits on the architecture that can be put in place.
Kerry has said that the mix of binding and non-binding elements of the deal – emissions cuts will require "transparency and accountability" but will not be legally binding according to the White House – means it doesn't fit the standard definition of a treaty.
