Due Diligence Legislation and the Politics of Implementation: The Case of the German Supply Chain Law

Abstract

The article examines the implementation of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence regulations as a politically formative process. Integrating insights from global value chain (GVC) research with the assumptions of legal struggles and legal endogeneity, the article analyses how administrative practice shapes the meaning and boundaries of due diligence obligations. The study empirically focuses on the German supply chain due diligence law, conducting a discourse analysis of eight guidance documents issued by the Federal Office of Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA). The German law is an insightful case study because the administrative body plays a more central role in the implementation process than in other due diligence laws. It acts as a key interpreter and guide for companies, as well as a controlling authority and handler of complaints. The analysis shows that BAFA's guidance must be understood in the context of an exceptionally high level of ambiguity that has arisen from the evolution of international soft law on due diligence norms. During implementation, the BAFA organizes ambiguity rather than resolving it, delegating substantive interpretive work to companies while normalizing private governance instruments such as audits and certifications. In doing so, administrative practice embeds due diligence obligations within existing GVC governance regimes and contributes to the hybridization and managerialization of public regulation. The article thus specifies how implementation becomes a key arena in which due diligence is shaped, contested, and potentially diluted.