Business Desk :
The Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI) organized the webinar, in view of the new law related to basic human rights and the environment in Germany.
The new law will be applicable to any country that does business with Germany, they also said at the webinar titled “German Due Diligence Act – Implications for Manufacturers and Exporters in Bangladesh”.
The new due diligence law will come into effect from January 2023 for companies with more than 3,000 employees.
It will be applicable to companies with 1,000 workers from January 2024.
The German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains (the “Supply Chain Due Diligence Act” – SCDDA) aims to protect the rights of people who produce goods for the German market.
Goods would include, for example, garments from Asia. Other examples are cocoa and fruit from Africa, and coffee from South America.
The German legislation has been adopted with a view to obliging German companies, and foreign companies with a branch or subsidiary in Germany, to better meet their global responsibility.
Violations targeted by the SCDDA include, in particular, child labour, forced labour, exploitation, discrimination, and inadequate labour legislation, as well as environmental destruction such as illegal logging, inappropriate use of pesticides, contamination of water resources and air pollution.
Companies will be required to exercise due diligence in their supply chains in accordance with human rights and environmental requirements as set out in an Annex which lists, among others, international Conventions of the International Labour Organization (“ILO”), the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”) and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, they added.
