ETI responds to IASC report and model legislative drafting

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) welcomes the publication of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s (IASC) Strengthening the UK’s Forced Labour and Human Rights Legislative Framework report and accompanying Model Legislative Drafting. The report sends a clear and timely call to action for the UK Government to introduce new and robust due diligence legislation. 

ETI and our company, NGO and trade union members are united in our call for mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mHREDD). This position reflects extensive consultation across our tripartite membership and a strong consensus that mandatory standards are essential to deliver meaningful and lasting improvements for workers, communities and the environment, while meeting public expectations of responsible business conduct.

Voluntary action alone won’t deliver change at the scale or pace required. The IASC’s report provides further, compelling, evidence that legislation is a crucial next step to strengthen protections for the human rights of workers in global value chains, as well levelling the playing field for responsible British businesses to drive the sustainable, resilient growth the economy needs.

In particular, ETI welcomes:

• Alignment with UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, which set out the internationally agreed baseline for effective HREDD. Clear alignment with these frameworks ensures laws focus on preventing and addressing harm through risk-based due diligence, meaningful stakeholder engagement and access to remedy, rather than tick-box compliance. It also promotes consistency across jurisdictions, providing clarity for businesses operating global value chains, whilst strengthening protections for workers and communities. and supports a consistent approach.
• The focus on access to remedy and rightsholder-centred remediation, including civil liability provisions that enable people whose rights have been harmed in global value chains to seek redress.  
• The acknowledgement that HREDD involves a continuous cycle of risk assessment, prevention and mitigation, with remediation where necessary. Conducted effectively, with meaningful stakeholder engagement, HREDD can address human rights abuses and improve conditions. It is a proven step forward from limited approaches, such as those based predominantly on social audits and purely voluntary initiatives.

While strongly welcoming the publication of the IASC’s report and legislation, we do however note some additional areas that our members have called for:

• Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. Human rights and environmental harms are deeply interconnected and best addressed through a coordinated approach. Legislation that integrates both will be more effective in preventing harm at source and addressing root causes.
• A mHREDD law that applies to all sizes of companies, with proportionate due diligence expectations based on size, influence and leverage, to ensure effectiveness while avoiding a threshold-based approach that could leave significant risks unaddressed.
• Comprehensive scope that includes all private and public sector actors. Recognising significant human rights and environmental impacts can arise through public sector activities, procurement and investment, our consulted position includes private and public sectors, and the service sector, in scope of mHREDD obligations. Limiting public actors in scope risks creating a material gap in protection and undermining the effectiveness of the legislation.

Giles Bolton, Executive Director of ETI, said:

“The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s report provides clear and welcome support for the introduction of new laws to mandate responsible business conduct. We continue to advocate, on behalf of ETI members for the urgent introduction of mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation. We look forward to working with the Government, the IASC, Unseen, Omnia Strategy LLP and other business, union and NGO partners to ensure a robust legislation is developed which will ensure real progress this crucial area of policy.”