Note: This is an unofficial summary translation of the German original.

Chancellor Angela Merkel supports the goal of legally mandating companies to protect human rights with their suppliers abroad.

There is a clear agreement within the coalition to resolve this issue, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Wednesday. As announced by Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) and Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU), key points for a supply chain law will be passed in August [according to Seibert]. Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) will also be involved in this process [he added]. Altmaier is more sceptical about the plans of his colleagues. The Foreign Office announced that on August 11th, an evaluation of a survey of companies on how they monitor their supply chains will be available. After that, conclusions could be drawn, Seibert said...

In government circles it was said that the exact form a later law would take was... very important. The Chancellery had slowed down work on the issue a few months ago by pointing out that the first thing to do was to get the economy back on track at all after its collapse in the coronavirus crisis. Government circles said on Wednesday that they were annoyed that only about one-fifth of the companies surveyed had taken part in the survey.