4.4 Financial commitment

Article 10 - Preventing potential adverse impacts

10.2. Companies shall be required to take the following appropriate measures, where relevant:
 

(a) where necessary due to the nature or complexity of the measures required for prevention, without undue delay develop and implement a prevention action plan, with reasonable and clearly defined timelines for the implementation of appropriate measures and qualitative and quantitative indicators for measuring improvement; companies may develop their action plans in cooperation with industry or multi-stakeholder initiatives; the prevention action plan shall be adapted to companies’ operations and chains of activities (c) make necessary financial or non-financial investments in, adjustments or upgrades of, for example, facilities, production or other operational processes and infrastructures; (d) make necessary modifications of, or improvements to, the company’s own business plan, overall strategies and operations, including purchasing practices, design and distribution practices; (e) provide targeted and proportionate support to an SME which is a business partner of the company, where necessary in light of the resources, knowledge and constraints of the SME, including by providing or enabling access to capacity-building, training or upgrading management systems, and, where compliance with the code of conduct or the prevention action plan would jeopardise the viability of the SME, by providing targeted and proportionate financial support, such as direct financing, low-interest loans, guarantees of continued sourcing, or assistance in securing financing;

Article 11, Bringing actual adverse impacts to an end

11.3. Companies shall be required to take the following appropriate measures, where relevant:

(a) neutralise the adverse impact or minimise its extent; such measures shall be proportionate to the severity of the adverse impact and to the company’s implication in the adverse impact;(c) seek contractual assurances from a direct business partner that it will ensure compliance with the company’s code of conduct and, as necessary, a corrective action plan, including by establishing corresponding contractual assurances from its partners, to the extent that their activities are part of the company’s chain of activities; when such contractual assurances are obtained, paragraph 6 shall apply; (d) make necessary financial or non-financial investments in, adjustments or upgrades of, for example, facilities, production or other operational processes and infrastructures; (e) make necessary modifications of, or improvements to, the company’s own business plan, overall strategies and operations, including purchasing practices, design and distribution practices; (f) provide targeted and proportionate support to an SME which is a business partner of the company, where necessary in light of the resources, knowledge and constraints of the SME, including by providing or enabling access to capacity-building, training or upgrading management systems, and, where compliance with the code of conduct or the corrective action plan would jeopardise the viability of the SME, by providing targeted and proportionate financial  support, such as direct financing, low-interest loans, guarantees of continued sourcing, or assistance in securing financing;

 4. Companies may take, where relevant, appropriate measures in addition to the measures listed in paragraph 3, such as engaging with a business partner about the company’s expectations with regard to bringing actual adverse impacts to an end or minimising the extent of such impacts, or providing or enabling access to capacity-building, guidance, administrative and financial support such as loans or financing, while taking into consideration the resources, knowledge and constraints of the business partner.

Article 12, Remediation of actual adverse impacts

1. Member States shall ensure that, where a company has caused or jointly caused an actual adverse impact, the company provides remediation.

2. Where the actual adverse impact is caused only by the company’s business partner, voluntary remediation may be provided by the company. The company may also use its ability to influence the business partner that is causing the adverse  impact to provide remediation

Article 13, Meaningful engagement with stakeholders

13.1. Member States shall ensure that companies take appropriate measures to carry out effective engagement with stakeholders, in accordance with this Article.

13.3 (a) when gathering the necessary information on actual or potential adverse impacts, in order to identify, assess and prioritise adverse impacts pursuant to Articles 8 and 9; (b) when developing prevention and corrective action plans pursuant to Article 10(2) and Article 11(3), and developing enhanced prevention and corrective action plans pursuant to Article 10(6) and Article 11(7); (d) when adopting appropriate measures to remediate adverse impacts pursuant to Article 12;

 13.5. In consulting stakeholders, companies shall identify and address barriers to engagement and shall ensure that participants are not the subject of retaliation or retribution, including by maintaining confidentiality or anonymity.

13.7 Engagement with employees and their representatives shall be without prejudice to relevant Union and national law in the field of employment and social rights as well as to the applicable collective agreements.

Recital 46

The contractual assurances should be accompanied by appropriate measures to verify compliance. However, the company should only be obliged to seek the contractual assurances, as obtaining them may depend on the circumstances. To ensure comprehensive prevention of potential adverse impacts, companies should also make financial or non-financial investments, adjustments or upgrades which aim to prevent adverse impacts, and collaborate with other companies, in compliance with Union law.

Companies should also provide targeted and proportionate support for a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) which is a business partner of the company, where necessary in light of the resources, knowledge and constraints of the SME, including by providing or enabling access to capacity-building, training or upgrading management systems, and, where compliance with the code of conduct or the prevention action plan would jeopardise the viability of the SME, providing targeted and proportionate financial support, such as direct financing, low-interest loans, guarantees of continued sourcing, or assistance in securing financing. The notion of ‘jeopardising the viability of an SME’ should be interpreted as possibly causing a bankruptcy of the SME or putting the SME in a situation where bankruptcy is imminent.
 

Recital 54

Companies should also make financial or non-financial investments, adjustments, or upgrades aiming at ceasing or minimising the extent of adverse impacts, and collaborate with other companies, in compliance with Union law. Where relevant, companies should adapt business plans, overall strategies, and operations, including purchasing practices, and develop and use purchasing policies that contribute to living wages and incomes for their suppliers, and that do not encourage actual adverse impacts on human rights or the environment.