Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, officially committed to an EU initiative on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence at a webinar organised by the European Parliament Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct. His full speech can be read here.

In his speech, Reynders referred to a study undertaken for the European Commission on regulatory options for mandatory due diligence for human rights and environmental harms. The study, conducted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)  and published in February 2020, can be found here.

European Parliament published a briefing on substantive elements of potential legislation on human rights due diligence in June 2020, including a discussion on the scope of human rights covered and types of human rights violations covered, as well as an analysis of which companies and business activities should be covered.

European Parliament also published a second briefing on potential EU HRDD legislation, which discusses options for monitoring and enforcement of due diligence obligations, as well as different ways to ensure access to justice for victims of human rights abuses.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has a blog series titled ‘Towards Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence’. Recent interesting contributions include a post on what can be learnt from France and the Netherlands when formulating EU human rights due diligence legislation and an entry exploring core elements of an EU regulation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has also compiled a list of large businesses, associations and investors that have made public statements and endorsements in support of mandatory due diligence regulation.

The blog of European Journal of International Law posted a blog with analysis and key findings of an exploration of options of monitoring, enforcing and remedy under the future EU legislation.

In June 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published an “Issues Paper” on legislative proposals for mandatory human rights due diligence, specifically mentioning the future EU Directive. The paper unpacks some of the main choices that policy-makers and legislators will be confronted with in the course of forthcoming consultations and discussions on mandatory human rights due diligence, both at the domestic level and internationally.

Human Rights Watch has published a letter to the European Commissioner for Justice and MEPs containing a list of recommendations for EU legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.

An insightful blog post on what to expect from potential EU legislation and which questions remain open for an EU-wide directive to address can be read here.

In early 2020, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice published a legal brief with key legislative recommendations for potential EU-wide mandatory due diligence legislation and corporate accountability. The brief provides a detailed set of minimum provisions that such legislation should include to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for human rights abuses and environmental damage in businesses’ global value chains.

In September 2020, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice and Anti-Slavery International released a report of case studies of human rights abuses and environmental harm liked to EU companies. The report analyses how an EU due diligence law, with strong liability and access to justice rules, would make a difference in these cases.