The reintroduction of South Korea’s due diligence law potentially marks a significant advancement for human rights and ESG initiatives in the region.
By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, Wonsuk (Steve) Kang, Farhana Sharmeen, and Jiou (Alex) Park
On June 13, 2025, South Korean Representative Jung Tae-Ho reintroduced the proposed “Bill for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment for Sustainable Business Management” (the Bill). The current draft of the Bill builds upon a similar
The bill seeks to extend certain provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
By Erin Brown Jones, Paul A. Davies, Nathan H. Seltzer, and James Bee
The U.S. Congress continues to take interest in implementing legislation to curb alleged human rights abuses in the supply chain in China and elsewhere, as evidenced by two new pieces of legislation introduced in the Senate this month. These bills follow the implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or UFLPA, in December 2021. For more information on the UFLPA, see this Latham blog post.
The law imposes mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence obligations on companies in Germany as of 1 January 2023.
By Paul A. Davies, Stefan Bartz, and Alexander Wilhelm
On 25 June 2021, the Bundesrat, the legislative chamber of the German Federal States, approved the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltsgesetz). The law now only needs to be signed by the Federal President (Bundespräsident) and published before entering into force. Two weeks before, the coalition parties reached a last-minute compromise to adopt the law ahead of the end of the legislative period in September.
This blog post will examine the amendments to the prior draft law resulting from that compromise and consider how the Act will impact companies in Germany (for more information on the draft law, please see Latham’s previous blog).
The German government has adopted draft law to ensure corporate compliance with human rights in the supply chain.
By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, Joachim Grittmann, Stefan Bartz, and Alexander Wilhelm
On 3 March 2021, the German government adopted the draft Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains Act (Gesetz über die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten), which is intended to oblige large German companies to better fulfil their responsibilities in the supply chain with regard to internationally recognized human rights by implementing core elements of human rights due diligence.
The draft law will now be introduced in the legislative procedure and is expected to be passed this summer. If passed, the new law will enter into force in January 2023.
The report’s recommendations cover a number of areas, including culture and strategy, monitoring and reporting, investor engagement, policy formation and employee training, and philanthropy.
By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green
A new report from the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner draws attention to how the financial services industry can help address the issue of modern slavery. The report, “Preventing Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking: An Agenda for Action across the Financial Services Sector” (the Report), aims to sound “a call to action for the industry”. The Report, which was released on 18 January 2021, is the result of a research and outreach project led by Themis in partnership with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Office and TRIBE Freedom Foundation.
As the Report notes, in relation to financial services, modern slavery is less overt and usually refers to employment of low skilled contract workers such as cleaning or catering workers.
The House of Lords has adopted two amendments to require assessment of compliance with international agreements and human rights.
By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green
On 7 December 2020, the UK House of Lords voted on and passed four amendments to the Trade Bill (the Bill), including two amendments referring to human rights obligations. These amendments propose requiring a mandatory assessment of human rights performance in future trade agreements, as well as an obligation on the UK to revoke trade agreements with countries found to have committed genocide.
The initiative has the potential to significantly extend liability for certain Swiss companies in relation to abuses of human and environmental rights.
By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green
Since 1891, Swiss citizens have been able to request changes to the Swiss constitution through popular initiatives. Currently, if an initiative is put forward by a group of at least seven citizens, and subsequently wins the support of 100,000 signatories within 18 months, a nationwide referendum is potentially triggered. However, before the referendum takes place, Swiss legislators may propose a compromise position to the initiative. This compromise proposal will become law if the initiative’s sponsors agree to it; otherwise, the original initiative is submitted for a national referendum.
The Responsible Business Initiative (KVI), put forth in 2016, is one such popular initiative. As currently worded, the KVI sets out due diligence requirements for Swiss-based companies with respect to environmental and human rights, both in Switzerland and abroad. Notably, it also proposes that Swiss-based companies be held liable for environmental and human rights harms caused anywhere within their global supply chain.
The final text of Principle 5 requires a consultation process between the client and the indigenous community.
By James R. Barrett, Paul A. Davies, and Michael D. Green
On 18 November 2019, the Equator Principles Association (EP Association) adopted the most recent iteration of the Equator Principles (EPs), the fourth version of the EPs that has been released since their inception in 2003 (EP4). The final content of EP4 is very similar to that of the draft text, which was published earlier this year for stakeholder consultation (see Equator Principles Association Releases Equator Principles 4 for Consultation).
Proposed revisions to the Equator Principles 3 include human rights, social risk, and climate change.
By James Barrett, Paul A. Davies, Joel H. Mack, and Michael D. Green
The Equator Principles Association (EP Association) recently released the draft text of the Equator Principles (EPs) version 4 (EP4). The EP Association intend the draft text to form the basis for a formal round of public consultation, led by Business for Social Responsibility™. The review of EP3 and proposed development of EP4 was originally announced in late 2017. Prior to publication of the draft EP4, environmental consultants, ERM, conducted a preliminary round of stakeholder consultation, and the results can be viewed here.
EP Association and EPs
The EP Association is the unincorporated association of member EP Financial Institutions (EPFIs). Almost 100 financial institutions across 37 countries are members, including ABN Amro, Standard Chartered plc, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The object of the EPFIs is to manage, administer, and develop the EPs.
By Paul Davies and Michael Green
Six Portuguese children are raising funds to sue 47 European countries, asserting that their right to life has been threatened because governments have allegedly failed to adequately deal with climate change.
With the support of lawyers from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the children will ask nations in the suit to strengthen their emissions reduction policies, and to commit to keeping the majority of their existing fossil fuel reserves “in the ground”. The 47 countries targeted by the legal action are collectively responsible for approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and include Europe’s “major emitters”, such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
The children, who are between 5 and 14 years old, claim to have been directly affected by Portugal’s worst-ever forest fires in Leirria this summer, which resulted in more than 60 fatalities. Climate change is thought to have exacerbated the Iberian Peninsula’s extreme heatwave that extended the wildfire season from two months (July and August) to five months (June to October).