Experts and non-governmental organizations fear that the initiative could produce a harmless paper tiger.
A container port.
A supply chain law is currently being discussed at EU level. The consultation ends next Monday, February 8th, and a draft should be available in spring. The aim of the law is to comply with human and employee rights as well as environmental standards along the entire value chain. This would affect the use of child labor by suppliers, for example. However, several NGOs and experts fear that the initiative could produce a toothless paper tiger.
As Rita Kesselring from the University of Basel explains, there are basically three ways of implementing standards: voluntary commitment by businesspeople, laws in the countries of production and laws in the countries of the corporate headquarters.
Experience shows that the first two are often not enough. Kesselring therefore advocates making corporations legally liable at their place of business. An expansion based on the market principle is also conceivable in order to prevent the problem from being circumvented by formally relocating the headquarters. That would mean that liability applies wherever goods or services are offered.
International networks, for example of trade unions, would be necessary so that the victims can assert their claims.
UN guiding principles
Markus Krajewski from the University of Erlangen sees a suitable normative framework in the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. Although these have been recognized since 2011, they are not legally binding. So they have the character of recommendations.
The experts are skeptical of a regulation within the framework of free trade agreements because it could lead to distortions of competition, especially when it comes to bilateral agreements.
