Abstract
Under the notion of human rights due diligence (HRDD), firms are under a responsibility to account for the social and environmental impact connected to their operations across global value chains. This responsibility intersects with the sphere of operation of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), which certify production against certain social and environmental criteria. With mandatory European rules on HRDD in the making, the question arises regarding the extent of alignment of VSS with HRDD notions and, consequently, the possibility for this form of transnational private regulation to complement European Union (EU) HRDD legislation. After presenting the regulatory effects of HRDD in global value chains and its current transposition in EU instruments, this contribution examines the relationship between private standards and HRDD. By delving into the substantive requirements and policies of several schemes certifying agricultural commodities, this paper studies the extent to which they manage social and environmental risks in global value chains and the possible support they provide to firms subject to the upcoming HRDD obligations.
Highlights
Human rights violations and environmental impacts associated with business activities link consumers to harms such as breaches of labour rights, environmental damage or deforestation that take place in upstream value chain tiers located in foreign jurisdictions
Under the notion of human rights due diligence (HRDD), firms are under a responsibility to account for the social and environmental impact connected to their operations across global value chains
By delving into the substantive requirements and policies of several schemes certifying agricultural commodities, this paper studies the extent to which they manage social and environmental risks in global value chains and the possible support they provide to firms subject to the upcoming HRDD obligations
Summary
Human rights violations and environmental impacts associated with business activities link consumers to harms such as breaches of labour rights, environmental damage or deforestation that take place in upstream value chain tiers located in foreign jurisdictions. HRDD as a framework allocating responsibilities for harm and prescribing precise processes and various forms of across-the-chain collaboration has been conceptualised as a form of transnational law, intersecting with and impacting on the practices of private entities across the globe.[6] The emergence of national legislation[7] is making HRDD mandatory, with European Union (EU) measures currently in the making.[8] These developments magnify the relevance of HRDD and its transformative effects not just for ensuring human rights compliance, and for the ways in which firms manage, remedy and report on social and environmental risks. It does so by studying the VSS requirements contained in production standards, codes of conduct, documents and policies from seven schemes and meta-regulators in the domains of timber, palm oil, soy, sugarcane, cocoa and coffee certification, as well as nongovernmental organisation (NGO) reports.
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