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[ROOTless]

I think the only flaw with your logic is that not all corporations are extraterritorial, only AAA corporations can apply for and recieve extraterritorial status. Anything smaller than the Big 10 are still subject to the laws of whatever country the reside in. And keep in mind that most subsidiary corporations are not extraterritorail either. Only wholy-owned AAA's get this. So say you have the Death Wagon Corporation as a subsidiary of Ares, they are still only a AA or lower-rated corp. Ares would be subject to Ares law, but Death Wagon would be subject to, say, UCAS law, and therefore totally and COMPLETELY illegal in all senses. And just about every AAA (except possibly Aztechnology) would shy away from DW because of publicity.

Gabe, where'd you pick up this little 'gem' about extraterritoriality being only for the AAAs?
It's not in the Corporate Shadowguide, which discusses the subject some length, and it's in pretty direct contradiction of some of the stuff in the Shadows of Europe sourcebook.
It's also pretty dodgy from a legal/realistic point of view.

[kv]

It was my understanding that in order to become a AA Corp, they had to be international, and therefore have extraterritoriality?

I remember reading something about mom and pop corps in Seattle setting up offices in Vancouver, so they would be international, and therefore have those rights.

-kv

[ROOTless]

I have yet to see strict any definitions of when a Corp is A, AA or AAA. Or F for that matter.
One that could be applied for the AAAs is: Do they have a representative on the Corp Court. If yes, it's an AAA, otherwise it isn't. There may be a better/stricter definition, but I don't recall one.

K_V: A corp can (easily) be international without being extra-territorial. Look a companies like Shell, 7-11 or Maersk, none of which have extra-territorialty, but certainly are multinational if not actually international.

Extra territorialty is significantly different from internationality. It's the right to apply your onw company laws, within a limited area that's strictly speaking part of another country.
Currently only embassies have this, as far as I am aware. Though in some nations, some companies come close.

Remember, the mon'n'pop buisness is still bound by UCAS law in Seattle, and CAS law in Atlanta city, unless it has extra-territoriality, in which case it must have (and apply) it's own laws in each country where it has been granted extra-territoriality.

[Retread]

A B corp is a national small corporation.

An A-rank corp is a large national or multi-national without granted extra-territoriality.

An AA-rank corp is a larger corp with extra-territoriality

An AAA-rank corp is an extra-territorial corp with a seat on the Corporate Council.

[ROOTless]

And these definitions are based off what?
Extra-territoriality is a bit of a tricky thing, especially if you want it to be realistic (which is very hard to do).

[Retread]

Corporate Download, released late third edition. Very clearly it defines how corps are rated.

Legality? Sure, there are a few countries that do not allow extra territoriality in their countries. Aztlan and Tir Tairngire come to mind. However, Saeder-Krupp has subsidiaries in Tir Tairngire, but those are strictly Gov't regulated and not extra-territorial. If you read the history of SR, corporate extra-territoriality was signed by a few of the nuclear super-powers around the turn of the century and the Corporate Court was born through a quagmire of disastrous corporate wars, particularly between Keruba and BMW.

Extra-territoriality is granted by the signatory nature of the Corporate Court. The court itself is responsible for the administration of extra-territoriality. Typically, only powerful A rank corps can make the jump to AA status. This usually requires fragging off one part of the Court in favor of another to allow the 13 members of the Corporate council (all appointed by the Big "X" AAA megas) to vote on the jump to extra-territoriality. Of course, if the corp isn't strong enough, it'll probably be gobbled up by a larger corp before it can make it that far.

[ROOTless]

Interesting.

It's partially (but not entirely) in contradiction of the Corporate Shadowfiles.
Should be possible to reconcile them though.

[Retread]

That's the way I understand it. The big court calls the shots, I suspect however that the sovereign nations have to agree as well, but when the CC says so, the nation-states usually agree.

What did Corporate Shadowfiles say about it?

[ROOTless]

It talks at length about the Shiawase Decision, as well as it's precedent, the Seretech decision.
It's explained as a result of the Shiawase decision (which makes it relevant in the US/UCAS and maybe CAS only), and specifies that

The majority of other nation-states, including those considered major players on the world stage, soon enacted laws analogous the the Shiawase Decision. The classes of corporation to which extraterritoriality applies vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, in Germany only the largest and most influential megacorps enjoy extraterritorial status. However, most jurisdictions consider the major megacorporations extraterritorial, with a few minor exception.

-which agrees extremely well with what's in the Shadows of Europe book (read up on scandinavia some day).

It then goes into some of the consequences and limitations of extraterritoriality granted to the corps, and what this means.

It makes limited sense to have the corp court call the shots, because it's the nation-state that's surrendering sovereignity/power. If the CC can order it to, then the nation-state shows clear to all that it's submissive to an external entity, which is a politically bad move (even if likely a economically sound one). It makes sense that the CC can request extraterritorial status for some corp or other, and it makes sense that many/most nations will indulge such a request, to some extent or other (for economic reasons), but I don't see how the CC can have the power to (officially) demand it.

Also please notice that the entire basis for extraterritoriality is a tad shaky here and there, but have been accepted because it furthers the sense of the genre.

[Gabriel]

A B corp is a national small corporation.

An A-rank corp is a large national or multi-national without granted extra-territoriality.

An AA-rank corp is a larger corp with extra-territoriality

An AAA-rank corp is an extra-territorial corp with a seat on the Corporate Council.

Bingo! Thanks for the help on that one Retread. I was forgot about the Corporate Court distinction between double and tripple A corporations and to be honest, I didn't feel like digging into my data files.

Gabriel

[Retread]

Aye, you see the trick is that the Corporate court cannot simply demand a nation-state to accept extra-territoriality, however, since the Corporate Court has jursidiction over all the multinational corporations, they can pass an edict against the smaller corps to boycott said nation-state. Most countries depend on these multinationals for their services. Take the UCAS for example, they require the services of the megacorps, not to mention AAs like Lone Star, Franklin Associates, and DocWagon. If the CC were to pass an edict with sanctions on these smaller companies, say forcing them to abandon their contracts, the UCAS would be hung out to dry. This is why most nation-states obey the whims of the Corporate Court. Who are they going to complain to... the UN? The door was already open, so it's really no surprise to see other companies get extra-territoriality.

[ROOTless]

Exactly.

The CC cannot demand extraterritoriality, but can request it.

[kv]

It was my understanding that extraterritoriality was something that was kind of a status- I recently bought a couple of SR 1st edition books (yay for Amazon and mis-labeled product pages!), and they talk about how extraterritoriality happened because someone attacked a shipment of corporate goods during a riot, and the security defending the shipment shot up the crowd...

It went to the Supreme Court of the UCAS, and the supreme court decided that because they were protecting corporate interests in a way the civillian and military forces could not, they were justified. Thus clearing the way for every corp to have it's own private security force.

That was my understanding, anyway.

  -kv

[ROOTless]

IIRC, thet's the Seretech Decision mentioned.

Food riot.

The Shiawase Decision involved radical ecotage-ists and a nukeplant.

[Gabriel]

Yay for big business and quasi-political incedence. It just gives me a warm tingle all over when I think about people like this building my future.

Gabriel