联合王国政府目前正在就潜在法律进行磋商。英国政府期望该法将特别影响超市和时装厂、肉和奶制品生产者和企业使用棕榈油和其他自然成份并提议立法可能为企业提供法律确定性和清晰义务。
联合王国政府拟议立法力求查禁非法砍伐森林和生态系统变化并补充生产国政府和企业当前举措联合王国政府在公告中强调森林保护在应对气候变化方面的重要性,并特别指出:
- deferation占全球温室气体排放量的11%;
- 估计80%森林砍伐由农产品生产产生并 大森林清除生产这些商品不被视为合法 。
博客文章中, 我们考虑拟议立法的范围和范围对企业内可能意味着什么, 并提供广义GRI建议和国际可持续性尽职驱动程序上的一些上下文.
建议目前侧重于大型企业,视营业量和雇员数而定。根据国际和国家会计法,法律可能遵循欧盟和联合王国将大型企业界定为非中小企业的其他环境与可持续性举措政府预期超市和时装厂最有可能受拟议立法的影响,此外还有“公司将农林产品或衍生产品投放英国市场”。确定哪些企业属于类似勤勉报告框架范围证明对许多企业来说复杂化,特别是那些公司结构复杂并正在扩展的企业。
政府打算确保立法增强并符合现有的英国非金融公司报表和尽职框架不遵守制裁仍有待确定,但当前高层次建议显示政府将能够对继续使用未合法生产/或未建立强力尽职体系的森林风险商品的企业课以罚款和其他民事制裁。
关键建议之一是引入强制克尽职责要求GRI建议中一些重要范围界定方面包括:
- 应有的注意义务应同时涵盖侵犯人权和环境风险和影响,这些风险和影响需要仔细和清晰地定义and
- obligations for companies should be commensurate with the size of the organisation, their impact and ability to influence change;
- the financial sector should also be covered by a similar mandatory due diligence obligation, undertaking due diligence in order to avoid their lending and investment activities funding deforestation.
The extent to which any eventual legislation will incorporate these suggestions is currently unclear.
The GRI also recommended the introduction of a legally binding target to end deforestation within UK agriculture and forestry supply chains as soon as practicable, by no later than 2030.
Next steps: consultation
The UK Government — in particular, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ("Defra") — has launched an online consultation on the draft legislation to solicit views from the UK and international stakeholders (closing on 5 October 2020).Feedback to the consultation will inform the Government's response to the GRI's due diligence recommendation, and assist in weighing the potential impacts of the proposed legislation on businesses and other interests.
If the Government decides to legislate, the intention currently seems to be to that the legal framework will be established in primary legislation, followed by more detailed secondary legislation, and subject to further consultation.
Wider context: the proliferation of due diligence obligations
Following the UN's adoption of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("UNGPs"), there has been an increasing trend of national and regional regulatory initiatives, including human rights and environmental due diligence and reporting requirements.
One such significant initiative is in motion an at EU level.On 29 April 2020, the EU announced that it would introduce legislation in 2021 to make human rights and environmental due diligence mandatory for EU companies (see our May 2020 blog post here).欧洲议会目前正在编写关于这个问题的立法倡议报告,我们期望委员会在今后数月内进行协商。欧盟司法和消费者事务专员最近确认,委员会将将该条例列入2021年委员会下一个正式工作方案(预期于2020年10月发布)。These efforts are taking place in the context of the EU's wide suite of regulatory initiatives that are part of the "European Green Deal" (see an overview webinar here).
The UK Government considers that by introducing a mandatory deforestation and ecosystem supply chain law, it will provide businesses with some legal certainty by setting a "floor" and minimum standards to meet. However, against a backdrop of a rapidly evolving patchwork of due diligence requirements — including the more comprehensive, potential EU human rights and environmental due diligence regulation — it is possible that, for in-scope businesses, the UK's introduction of further issue-specific due diligence obligations will exasperate the compliance challenges caused by a piecemeal approach.