Challenge

 

The client was seeking advise on how to cope and guide its businesses (to comply with) increasingly stringent and changing human rights import restrictions and due diligence requirements in US and EU markets.
 

Solution

 

Focusing on the EU trend towards ESG due diligence requirements on businesses, this study served to provide practical recommendations for a (non-EU) Government to prevent and deal with trade disruptions as result of human rights related border and due diligence measures in the US and EU. In cooperation with a US-based lawfirm, our team worked towards an analysis and set of recommendations related to the EU context and trend towards sustainability legislation focusing on human rights and agriculture imports. A comparative analysis of the Dutch Child Labor law, the German Supply Chain Law, and the French Duty of Vigilance law provided concrete and practical insights on the differences in scope as well as compliance requirements for non-EU businesses. Moreover, through stakeholder interviews in the Brussels network and institutions, valuable intelligence was gathered on the likely outlooks and various scenarios for the new EU mandatory human rights due diligence legislation (to be presented by European Commission in February 2022), and announced EU ban on products made with forced labour.

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Results

 

Recommendations included possible Government actions including reforms to domestic regulation and diplomatic consultations, as well as business actions, to anticipate, prepare for and deal with the new trend of ESG due diligence requirements in the EU and US.