Abstract
With the globalisation of supply chains, the respect for human rights and labour standards in procurement practices has become a crucial priority also in the domestic regulation of public procurement. This paper focuses on two specific characteristics of the use of public procurement regulation for the enforcement of human rights and labour standards: its extraterritorial effects on companies and firms across different jurisdictions and its reliance on private certifications and labels. Both of these new aspects are evident within the new 2014 EU Procurement Directives, which includes a number of far-reaching regulatory features that facilitate the monitoring of the respect for human rights and labour standards of contractors and subcontractors across borders. However, this new dimension of public procurement has the potential to create tension within the framework of multilateral trade governance, specifically, the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade regime.
Highlights
With the globalisation of supply chains, the respect for human rights and labour standards in procurement practices has become a crucial priority.1 Human rights violations and modern slavery are a real concern in the complex management of public supply chains as demonstrated by recent corporate scandals such as the notorious collapse of the Bangladeshi Rana Plaza
This paper focuses on two specific characteristics of the use of public procurement regulation for the enforcement of human rights and labour standards: its extraterritorial effects on companies and firms across different jurisdictions and its reliance on private certifications and labels
Based on its analysis of the European Union (EU) procurement framework, this paper argues that: (1) the development of public procurement as a regulatory tool to ensure human and labour rights is a useful complement to existing approaches of multilateral soft law and private initiatives; (2) the 2014 Procurement Directives, in particular Directive 2014/24/EU, extends its regulatory influence outside the EU territorial jurisdiction and directly impacts the behaviour of firms, suppliers and subcontractors linked by supply chains across different jurisdictions; and (3) that this specific use of public procurement can be compliant with rules of Europe and the World: A law review 2-1 jurisdiction under international law and with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules
Summary
With the globalisation of supply chains, the respect for human rights and labour standards in procurement practices has become a crucial priority. Human rights violations and modern slavery are a real concern in the complex management of public supply chains as demonstrated by recent corporate scandals such as the notorious collapse of the Bangladeshi Rana Plaza. The paper looks at how the regulation of public procurement extends its jurisdictional reach to better protect human and labour rights abroad in fragmented global supply chains, for instance through the use of private mechanisms of labels and certifications. States and international organisations are increasingly promoting stronger visions of CSR that is more focused on the prevention and the mitigation of negative social impacts This development has been encouraged by the debate surrounding business and human rights and by the UN Guiding Principles, which has a clear focus on individual rights violations.. This development has been encouraged by the debate surrounding business and human rights and by the UN Guiding Principles, which has a clear focus on individual rights violations. One of the tools used by domestic governments and recommended by the UN Guiding Principles, which forms the focus of the subsequent analysis, is the increasing use of public procurement regulation to pursue social and environmental goals
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