On 26 June 2024, K2 Integrity, Fieldfisher, and Al Tamimi & Company hosted a webinar discussing the far-reaching consequences on global trade, security, and economic stability of the Red Sea shipping crisis. The conversation...more
Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne recently introduced the 21st-Century Business Act (Bill S-285), a Senate public bill that proposes substantive amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). The legislative proposal...more
A Turning Point for the EXIM Bank - The U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) is among the most impactful government agencies when it comes to helping U.S. companies compete for business internationally, finance domestic...more
On May, 3, 2023, the House of Commons passed Bill S-211, An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act and to amend the Customs Tariff (the Act). The Act introduces a public...more
After several stalled efforts in recent years (see previous Bennett Jones blog posts on Bill C-423 and Bill S-216), Parliament is poised to pass a supply chain transparency law aimed at preventing and reducing the risk of...more
The Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine have disrupted supply chains and heightened the need for supply chain due diligence to ensure business continuity and sustainability. Coupled with these events are...more
Key Takeaways - Slave, forced, and child labor is a modern-day reality impacting some 40 million people throughout the world, by some estimates. Such practices are—and have always been—repugnant, and certainly have no place...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has allocated $22 million to target the growing issue of abusive labor practices in the fashion industry, and specifically, to combat the use of child and forced labor in supply chains,...more
The strategic value of paying attention to areas that benchmarks assess - Some companies are skeptical about engaging with human rights and ESG benchmarking, because they question whether human rights and ESG disclosures...more
Matt Friedman is an expert on modern slavery in corporate supply chains and corporate best practices. He is the president and founder of the Mekong Club in Hong Kong which is a leader in uniting and mobilizing the private...more
As this space has addressed before, the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act (Civ. Code section 1714.43), enacted in 2010, requires large retailers and manufacturers (those with worldwide sales in excess of $100...more
On Monday, June 4, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important opinion, Hodson v. Mars, Inc., holding that food manufacturers do not have any independent obligation under California consumer protection laws...more
In 2010, California enacted the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (the “Act”). The goal of the Act is to curtail human trafficking and slavery by requiring certain manufacturers and retailers doing business in...more
[Warning: The juxtaposition of the jolly old man and forced labor is not to make light of human rights violations but to highlight the hidden evils in supply chains and the potential reputational damage to wholesome brands.] ...more
It’s Friday and time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we’ve been monitoring. This week’s post includes: new reports on the U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible...more
Amnesty International recently released a report alleging that supply chains for production of palm oil—a common ingredient in many consumer products—are tainted by forced and child labor. In the nearly 150-page report titled...more
When I was in the corporate world, I cannot begin to recall the number of times senior management had an overly optimistic forecast regarding some transaction; whether the transaction was the purchase of a smaller company, a...more
The holiday retail season is an ideal time to check that forced labor and bribery—two top and interconnected supply-chain threats—do not undermine the success of your critical sales period. Not long ago, many in the...more
Five years ago, on June 16, 2011, the way we view the human rights responsibilities of companies changed. On that day, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and...more
Last January, I wrote about one plaintiff’s unsuccessful attempt to pursue claims against the maker of Fancy Feast cat food for failure to disclose the alleged use of forced labor. Barber v. Nestlé USA, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist....more
We recently blogged about a new wave of class action litigation related to California’s Transparency in Supply Chains Act. In December, Nestlé USA won the dismissal of a complaint against it alleging that the company was...more
Time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we’ve been monitoring. This past week’s post includes: Apple’s refusal to comply with a federal court order; a new report...more
Companies are increasingly being required to disclose how they assess and respond to the risks of human trafficking in their product supply chains. Statutes like the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act and the U.K....more
A District Court judge in California has dismissed a complaint against Nestlé USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina Petcare Co. (together “Nestlé”) which argued that the company was obligated to inform consumers that seafood in its...more
I first wrote about the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act more than four years ago. See California To Require Website Disclosure Regarding Efforts To Eradicate Slavery And Human Trafficking. At the time, I noted...more