Members of the European Parliament recently adopted a motion calling for a resolution for mandatory human rights due diligence for corporations. The motion demands the Council to consider the necessity of a new EU legislation ‘to create a legal obligation of due diligence for EU companies outsourcing production to third countries, including measures to secure traceability and transparency’. Companies operating within Europe would no longer be able to distance themselves completely from human rights violations occurring in another jurisdiction.
Some MEPs went further and also called ‘on the Council and the Commission to include a mandatory and enforceable CSR clause in all bilateral trade and investment agreements signed by the EU, which would bind European investors to the principles of CSR’.
While this is a new approach by the European Parliament, the resolution does not have the effect of binding the Council or the Commissions to any legislative proposal. However, it is a precedent that may lead to a request to the European Commission by the European Parliament for a legislative proposal under Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The resolution however, does come at an opportune time. The G7 summit will take place on the 7th and 8th of June and will be presided over by Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that companies based in the G7 countries, should scrutinize that international guidelines on compliance of supply chains are being upheld, will address three priority points; transparency, prevention and the possibility of voicing complaints.