On 24 February the European Commission published the results of a study on due diligence requirements throughout the supply chain. The report reviews different Member States’ own practices and regulations (an substantial annex provides a comprehensive 12-country comparison of reporting and due diligence practice). In a press statement accompanying the publication, the European Commission notes that one in three companies in the EU is currently exercising due diligence in terms of human rights and environmental impacts and that 70% of the 334 companies that responded agree that EU-level regulation on a general due diligence requirement for human rights and environmental impacts could be beneficial for companies, thus inferring the need for ‘community legislation’ imposing such a requirement.
The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Civic Consulting produced this 600-page main report alongside several annexes.
In its synthesis of the survey carried out, authors, note, ‘Just over one-third of business survey respondents indicated that their companies are undertaking due diligence, which takes into account all human rights and environmental impacts, and a further one-third undertakes due diligence limited to certain areas.’
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