ENVIRONMENTAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE NEW GERMAN LAW ON CORPORATE DUE DILIGENCE IN SUPPLY CHAINS – IMPACT ANALYSIS ON SERBIAN LEGAL ENTITIES
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Abstract
This paper analyses the current novelty of the German legislator on corporate due diligence obligations, and its environmental aspects, and examines its impact on Serbian legal entities. On the 1st of January 2023 the law regulating the extraterritorial due diligence obligations for German companies of a certain size for the prevention of human rights violations and environmental protection in supply chains was released (Gesetz über die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten zur Vermeidung von Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Lieferketten). This law is considered to be the most ambitious project in the global trend of imposing such obligations to legal entities, and in most of its solutions, it follows the logic of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with certain differences. The analysis indicates the two most important differences. First, the most significant difference is the absence of civil liability of German companies towards victims of human and environmental rights violations. Second, the scope of the due diligence obligation is narrower than in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, covering the company’s operations and direct suppliers (contractors), while indirect suppliers are covered only if there is the cause, a “substantial knowledge” of possible violations. The analysis shows that this German law, apart from its possible legal effects on companies registered in Serbia, is expected to have factual effects (in the economic, technical-organizational and business areas) on Serbian legal entities, as the operations of Serbian companies will have to be harmonized with the obligations that this law imposes on their German contractual partners, and provides a classification of such Serbian legal entities. The paper recommends the adoption of a national strategy on business and human rights in the Republic of Serbia, as this could be the first step towards harmonizing the operations of Serbian legal entities with their counterparts from Germany and other EU countries.
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