Milestone promise a positive step toward mandatory due diligence in supply chains
[O]n April 29th, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders made a milestone announcement for corporate responsibility. The Commissioner publicly pledged that the European Commission will introduce a proposal for legislation in 2021...
[T]he EU has considerable potential to take effective action to prevent forced labour in global supply chains. Over 16 million people are estimated to be in forced labour in the private sector, which includes those producing the materials in goods or products exported to the EU, as well as products produced in the EU...
The Covid-19 crisis has sharply exposed the need for this change...
Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence would level the playing field...
The legislation we are calling for will change the state of play...
[W]e now need to ensure that the legislation proposed is robust and fit for purpose. The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Commission will soon start work on its long-awaited Corporate Accountability and Due Diligence report... Germany, which will assume the rotating Presidency of the EU in July, should also place this issue high on the its Presidency agenda.
Anti-Slavery International has laid out our vision of the legislation to ensure it is effective in addressing forced and child labour...