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A woman wears a hat with the EU stars. The slogan "1000 reasons for a strong EU supply chain law"

© Initiative Supply Chain Act

Showcasing instead of effective policy: Union and FDP create uncertainty with supply chain law applications

Press statement of the Supply Chain Act initiative in which FEMNET is involved

The Bundestag debate on the 5th Heike Drillisch comments on the CDU/CSU and FDP’s requests to repeal the Supply Chain Act for the Supply Chain Act initiative.

"The repeal of the Supply Chain Act would hardly change the much criticised reporting obligations of German companies, but would have a serious impact on people in the producing countries: their complaints would be ineffective and the incentive for companies to consistently respect human rights would be lost. The experience of the last two years shows: The Supply Chain Act works. Since due diligence obligations have become mandatory, workers in supply chains are finally experiencing an increasing willingness of companies to negotiate fair wages and healthy jobs.

Reporting obligations are an essential part of due diligence - but they are regulated in a completely different EU directive, the so-called CSRD. This should have been transposed into German law by the Federal Government in the summer and is intended, among other things, to provide investors with clarity on the sustainability of companies. Harmonising the reporting requirements of the Supply Chain Act and the CSRD makes sense and could have been implemented a long time ago.

Instead of showing off pointless initiatives to erode human rights and environmental protection, the CDU/CSU and FDP should rather work to swiftly transpose the European Supply Chain Act negotiated over several years into German law. Due diligence also leads to more resilient supply chains and more stable economic relationships. That's exactly what we need now. Constant uncertainty about the validity of once-adopted regulations not only comes at the expense of those affected by human rights violations, but also penalises companies that are already fulfilling their duty."

Heike Drillisch is coordinator of the CorA network for corporate responsibility and a member of the steering committee of the Initiative Supply Chain Act.

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