Decent Work in the Cross-Border Supply Chain: A Smart Mix of Legislation and Self-Regulation

IF 1.3 Q1 LAW

European Company and Financial Law Review Pub Date : 2023-04-01 DOI:10.1515/ecfr-2023-0013

Femke G. Laagland

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Abstract

Abstract 336 This paper deals with the problem of European companies trading with companies in developing countries where fundamental labour rights are being violated. For a long time, this issue was left to the responsibility of European companies on a voluntary basis. Recently, a shift towards hard law in the sense of legal obligations has become visible. The European Commission started a legislative process in 2021 and published a proposal for a due diligence Directive in February 2022 to which the European Parliament responded in first reading on 1 June 2023. In the meanwhile, France and Germany passed legislation, and in the Netherlands and Belgium a private member’s bill was submitted by members of Parliament. All in all, a lot is happening on this subject at both European and national level. Much has been written about the proposals as such but the issue of fundamental labour rights has been underexposed. This paper fills that gap. Central question is as to what extent legislation will lead to an improvement in compliance with fundamental labour rights in the cross-border supply chain. This paper will explore this question on the basis of the said European and national legislative initiatives. It will become clear that the solution lies much more in a mix of hard law and self-regulation and that in the search for a smart mix, lessons can be learned from the Dutch system of private sector-specific agreements. 337

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跨境供应链中的体面工作:立法与自律的巧妙结合

摘要:本文讨论了欧洲公司与发展中国家的公司进行贸易的问题，这些公司的基本劳工权利正在受到侵犯。很长一段时间以来，这个问题都是在自愿的基础上留给欧洲公司负责的。最近，在法律义务的意义上，向强硬法律的转变已经变得明显。欧盟委员会于2021年启动了立法程序，并于2022年2月发布了一份尽职调查指令提案，欧洲议会于2023年6月1日对该提案进行了一读回应。与此同时，法国和德国通过了立法，荷兰和比利时则由国会议员提交了一份私人法案。总而言之，在欧洲和国家层面上，这个问题正在发生很多变化。有关这些提议的文章很多，但基本劳工权利的问题却没有得到充分的关注。本文填补了这一空白。核心问题是，立法将在多大程度上改善对跨境供应链中基本劳工权利的遵守。本文将在上述欧洲和各国立法举措的基础上探讨这一问题。很明显，解决方案更多地在于将严格的法律和自我监管结合起来，在寻求一种明智的结合时，可以从荷兰针对私营部门的协议体系中吸取教训。337

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来源期刊

European Company and Financial Law Review LAW-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

16.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： In legislation and in case law, European law has become a steadily more dominant factor in determining national European company laws. The “European Company”, the forthcoming “European Private Company” as well as the Regulation on the Application of International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS Regulation”) have accelerated this development even more. The discussion, however, is still mired in individual nations. This is true for the academic field and – even still – for many practitioners. The journal intends to overcome this handicap by sparking a debate across Europe on drafting and application of European company law. It integrates the European company law component previously published as part of the Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht (ZGR), on of the leading German law reviews specialized in the field of company and capital market law. It aims at universities, law makers on both the European and national levels, courts, lawyers, banks and other financial service institutions, in house counsels, accountants and notaries who draft or work with European company law. The journal focuses on all areas of European company law and the financing of companies and business entities. This includes the law of capital markets as well as the law of accounting and auditing and company law related issues of insolvency law. Finally it serves as a platform for the discussion of theoretical questions such as the economic analysis of company law. It consists of articles and case notes on both decisions of the European courts as well as of national courts insofar as they have implications on European company law.