"[Press Release] South Korean Lawmakers Propose an Asia-first Bill on Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence," 1 Sept 2023

Representative Jung Taeho (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwanak-eul, Seoul) introduced the Act on Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Business Management on September 1 to prevent and address human rights and environmental violations by business enterprises in their global supply chains. Representative Jung and a network of civil society organizations(Korean Transnational Corporations Watch*) co-hosted a press conference on the same day to urge the National Assembly and the Korean Government to enact the bill as soon as possible.

[...] The Act on Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Business Management covers the core elements of corporate human rights and environmental due diligence introduced in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and OECD Guidelines, including making and internalizing commitment to respect human rights and the environment, implementing human rights and environmental impact assessments, monitoring the effect of the measures taken, disclosing relevant information, and operating grievance mechanisms.

For the first time in Korea, the bill prescribes corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the environment, and stipulates the corporate duty to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence. The scope of this duty is limited to companies with more than 500 employees or more than 200 billion KRW in revenue. Small and medium-sized enterprises are excluded, but the scope may be expanded by presidential decree in the future, considering domestic and international situations.

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