In the Netherlands, the parliament is preparing an initiative for due diligence legislation that will soon be pending in the House of Representatives. This proposal provides for a due diligence obligation for companies larger than 250 employees about risks of human rights violations and environmental impact. The obligation applies to the entire supply chain, including all sub-suppliers. The Work: No Child’s Business Alliance will be lobbying in cooperation with the Dutch Responsible Business Conduct Platform to remove the limit of 250 employees, because we believe that SMEs should also have a due diligence obligation.

At the same time, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on ‘building blocks for legislation’. For the time being, the Ministry wants to wait for developments within the EU; but if these developments do not proceed quickly enough, the minister has promised that a law will be submitted around the Summer of 2021.

Positive developments in the European Union

We also see positive developments within the European Union. Last year, the European Commission announced that it would introduce regulations for sustainable corporate governance. In recent months, stakeholders were given the opportunity to participate in a public consultation on this initiative. We expect the European Commission to come up with a legislative proposal around June 2021. We are positive about this development, although it still remains to be seen how this will look in terms of content.

Increasing political support

In our view, the above suggests that there is increasing political support for mandatory regulations on corporate social responsibility. This is a very good development after 10 years of voluntary guiding principles of the UN. For companies it can be a prudent reason to start preparing for value chain analyses, estimating the risks and impact assessments. And also as we always reiterate to those companies: to collaborate with CSOs to respond to the impacts.