(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss could be about to place themselves at the vanguard of European efforts to hold multinational corporations responsible for ethical lapses abroad.

A poll on Wednesday suggested a majority of citizens say they probably back an upcoming popular vote on whether large companies could face domestic legal proceedings, and the risk of liability and damages, if their foreign subsidiaries or suppliers abuse human rights or breach environmental standards.

A “yes” outcome on Nov. 29 could forge a new and unlikely path for a country with a previously more ambiguous attitude to money and business. From acceptance of Nazi gold during World War II to its prior reluctance to crack down on global tax evasion by bitterly clinging to banking secrecy, Switzerland has been accused of turning a blind eye to dubious behavior beyond its borders.

Pollster gfs.bern, which conducted the survey for national broadcaster SRG, said that the Responsible Business Initiative currently has majority backing, though the margin of support had slimmed in recent weeks. The outcome is “too close to call,” gfs.bern said.

The vote passing would be all the more remarkable considering the out-sized multinational economic interests of such a small country. The only three non-U.S. companies among the top 50 weighted stocks in the MSCI World index are all Swiss, led by Nestle SA, the maker of KitKat chocolates.

The Swiss initiative coincides with efforts gaining pace in other European countries. In Germany, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil this summer said he favors a law imposing standards on corporate supply chains. The European Union plans to propose legislation that could make firms responsible for human rights abuses and environmental harm in their supply chain.

The campaign in Switzerland is pitting citizens such as former foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey against pillars of the country’s big business. She and her colleagues proposing the initiative insist that their country, home to the United Nations and the Red Cross, must hold its companies to basic standards.

$100-Billion Chocolate Industry Still Plagued by Child Labor

Businesses opposing the initiative say it’ll add to bureaucracy and lead to a flood of lawsuits. It’s a particularly sore point for Swiss companies involved in the $100 billion global chocolate industry, which has been trying to eradicate child labor for years.

Nestle Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider has come out against the measure, as has his counterpart Antoine de Saint-Affrique at Swiss-listed Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s top cocoa processor.

“When you work with millions of smallholder farmers, you know there are and there will be problems,” de Saint-Affrique told journalists on Nov. 11, adding he thought the Swiss measure would be counterproductive. “It exposes any company that’s open and transparent and trying to solve issues to the consequence of permanent court cases and liability.”

The Swiss government is also against the initiative, offering a less stringent alternative that would be enacted if the corporate responsibility initiative fails at the ballot box.

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