Applicable to: Australian entities or companies carrying out business in Australia with an annual consolidated revenue of AUD 100 million or more.
This includes: Australian entities companies, partnerships, trusts, universities and charities), entities carrying on business in Australia (irrespective of where they are incorporated), body corporate, Commonwealth corporations and companies.
The Australia Modern Slavery Act anticipates the companies in scope to report on the modern slavery risk in their operations and supply chain, as well as on the actions taken to mitigate any identified risk. Entities required to comply must prepare Modern Slavery Statements every reporting year. The Australian Government publishes these statements through an online, publicly accessible register.
The Modern Slavery Statement must must include the following information:
Organization’s structure, its business and its supply chains
Potential modern slavery risks
Actions taken to address the risks
How they assess the effectiveness of the actions
Applicable to: companies that carry out business in the UK and its turnover (or the turnover of a parent company and its subsidiaries) reaches GBP 36 million or more.
The UK Modern Slavery Act consolidates existing offenses of human trafficking and slavery, encompassing all forms of exploitation. All businesses that carry out business in the UK need to provide transparency on their supply chains and prepare an annual statement on slavery and human trafficking. Such a statement needs to detail what steps a company takes to ensure no exploitation occurs within its lines of business or its supply chain. Although there is no financial penalty for non-compliance, the Secretary of State can seek an injunction requiring the company to file the statement.
Specifically, Section 54 of the act outlines the annual statement must include the following information:
Oorganization’s structure, its business and supply chians
Policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking
Due dilligence processes
Assessment and management of the risks of modern slavery
How they assess the effectiveness of the actions (KPSs)
Training and capacity building available to the staff
The UK Government is looking to update the legislation to introduce more stringent measures in case of non-compliance.
Applicable to:
EU companies employing at least 500 persons with a turnover of over EUR 150 million
EU companies operating in sectors at high risk of human rights abuse employing at least 250 people with EUR 40 million turnover
Non-EU companies with a turnover of more than EUR 150 million in the EU
Non-EU companies from a high-risk sector with a turnover of at least EUR 40 million from their EU operations
The proposed EU directive establishes a corporate due diligence duty to identify and mitigate potential negative impacts on human rights and the environment within their operations or their value chains. In case of violations, a company must carry out remediation efforts, including financial compensation for the affected parties. Following the directive, the member states should establish legal liability for any reported damages.
Applicable to companies operating in Germany with more than 3,000 employees (as of 2024, lowering the threshold to 1,000). Business that are part of the supply chains of those companies (directly or in tier 2 or more in some industries) will likely be required to respond to their ESG disclosure requests.
The German Supply Chain Act or Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG) aims to protect human rights and limit environmental harm by making it mandatory for companies in the scope noted above to conduct supply chain due diligence. LkSG mandates organizations to conduct risk identification and management, due diligence activities, and mitigation actions, as well as publish annual reports. Non-compliance can be costly, with penalties and fines ranging up to two percent of the company’s annual turnover.
In other words, companies within the scope of the German SUpply Chain Act must set up the following due diligence procedures:
Establish a risk management system
Define responsibility for compliance by, for example, appointing a human rights position
Carry out regular risk analyses
Adpot a policy on the company’s human rights strategy
Implement preventive measures in the company’s own business area, which includes the activities of subsidiaries
Take action in case of violation
Set up an internal complaints procedures
Establish and document due diligence procedures regarding risks associated with indirect suppliers
Publish an annual report detailing due diligence procedures, risks identified and measures taken
Applicable to companies established in France, employing more than 5,000 people in France or 10,000 persons worldwide.
Under France’s devoir de vigilance, certain large companies must follow the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the execution of their business. It requires companies to establish due diligence processes throughout the supply chains to prevent human rights and environmental violations. Companies in the scope of the legislation need to do risk mapping to identify supplier risk levels by region or category, conduct due diligence assessments and mitigation, and develop annual plans (“plan de vigilance”), describing the related risks and measures taken to address them. Following a formal complaint, a failure to act with adequate diligence or adhere to standards of reasonable care may lead to civil liability of defaulting company.
To learn more about how the Duty of Care Law (Devoir de Vigilance) affects your business read our whitepaper (in French).
Applicable to companies selling goods and services to Dutch end-users, including companies registered outside the Netherlands.
The Child Labor Due Diligence Law requires companies to investigate whether child labor contributed to any goods or services they are selling or supplying. Companies must issue a due diligence statement, and if they identify any issues, set out a plan of action.
Companies that fail to comply with the requirements face steep fines, while continued non-compliance can result in criminal sanctions. It’s one of the first criminal enforcement tools for a failure to exercise human rights due diligence.
In short, below are the key requirements of the law:
Companies are expected to investigate and determine whether there is reasonable suspicion that child labor contributed to the goods or services they are selling or supplying.
If such a reasonable suspicion exists companies are required to create and engage in a “plan of action” to address their finding.
Applicable to companies registered in Norway or companies paying taxes in Norway meeting at least two out of the following three criteria: 50 or more full-time employees; annual turnover of at least NOK 70 million; NOK 35 million balance sum.
The Transparency Act (or Åpenhetsloven) requires companies to carry out due diligence assessments in respect of human rights and decent working conditions. The objective of the assessment is for the companies to identify, address and prevent any adverse impacts in their operations, supply chain or other business relationships. The Act requires businesses to report the findings and make the information available to the public through the company’s website.
The level of due diligence should be carried out in proportion to the size and nature of the business, depending on the severity and probability of the adverse impacts on human rights and decent working conditions. Consequences and penalties for non-compliance are yet to be defined, however, they will be variable as well – the severity of the infringement will determine them.