The Dutch member of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, the MVO Platform, welcomes the announcement by Foreign Trade and Development minister De Bruijn (D66) that the government will develop and introduce a national law on human rights and environmental due diligence. With this legislation, the Netherlands is taking a big step towards protecting human rights and the environment in global value chains.

Minister De Bruijn’s decision follows last week’s news that the European Commission has delayed the announcement of a draft due diligence law. De Bruijn said in the House of Representatives last Thursday that his preference would be to legislate at the European level and that he is “very disappointed” that the European Commission is taking even longer than promised to put forward its proposal.

The decision to introduce Dutch legislation is in line with the government’s previous position to start the drafting process in the event of no or slow progress at the European level. Minister De Bruijn is eager to use the Dutch law to put pressure on the European Commission and to avoid losing time...

The government coalition parties must now include this agreement on the introduction of the legislation into the coalition agreement by 2023.

The proposal could be ready soon, as the ministry has already prepared “building blocks” for legislation. Earlier this year, a detailed and substantiated bill for Responsible and Sustainable Business was submitted to the House of Representatives...