Expert Analysis

• What G-7 Xinjiang Focus Means For UK And US Companies

  

  Attorneys at King & Spalding consider the shifting legal and political landscape, highlighted at last month's G-7 summit, around eradicating forced labor in China’s northwest Xinjiang region, and what U.K. and U.S. businesses with supply chain exposure should do to mitigate their legal, financial and reputational exposure.

• UK Employment Case May Lead To New Discrimination Suits

  

  The recent Maya Forstater case before the U.K. Employment Appeals Tribunal, concerning whether gender-critical beliefs are a protected characteristic, could provoke an influx of discrimination cases on the basis that philosophical beliefs could trump other protected characteristics, says Jules Quinn at King & Spalding.

• Opinion

  Nestle Ruling Shows Supply Chain Human Rights Flaws

  

  The Supreme Court's recent ruling in Nestle v. Doe — blocking claims that chocolate makers aided and abetted child slavery in Africa — underscores the need for federal legislation to ensure that U.S. corporation supply chains are not complicit in human rights abuses overseas, says Alexandra Dufresne at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

• Addressing Environmental Justice As Part Of ESG Initiatives

  

  Recent calls for racial equity and government regulators' increasing focus on social and environmental concerns make this a good time for companies to integrate environmental justice into their environmental, social and governance efforts, say Stacey Halliday and Julius Redd at Beveridge & Diamond, and Jesse Glickstein at Hewlett Packard.

• 2 UK Pension Cases Guide On 3rd-Party Due Diligence

  

  The U.K. Court of Appeal's recent decision in Adams v. Options UK, and upcoming hearing in Financial Conduct Authority v. Avacade, highlight important precautions self-invested personal pension operators should take when dealing with unauthorized third parties, says Paul Ashcroft at Wedlake Bell.

• US Cos. Must Get Ready For EU Human Rights, Climate Policy

  

  The European Union will likely adopt new human rights and climate change regulations for corporations — so U.S. companies and investors should assess their risk exposure and implement compliance processes tailored to their industries, locations and supply chains, say David Lakhdhir and Mark Bergman at Paul Weiss.

• What Growing Focus On ESG Means For Insurers

  

  As the world pays steadily more attention to environmental, social and governance issues, insurers and reinsurers will need to integrate ESG risks into their underwriting and compliance efforts, but doing so will help attract consumers and achieve positive investment returns, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• 5 Ways To Address Heightened Forced Labor Compliance Risk

  

  In response to ever-increasing enforcement efforts targeting forced labor, companies can leverage available resources to assess conditions in their supply chains and avoid unintended imports and exports with entities known for human rights violations, say Joyce Rodriguez and Francesca Guerrero at Thompson Hine.

• UK Whistleblowing Laws May Be Ripe For Reform

  

  COVID-19 has reignited calls to expand U.K. whistleblowing laws, with many advocating for enhanced reporting protections and independent oversight of cases, says Pia Sanchez at CM Murray.

• G4S Deferral Agreement Illustrates SFO's Enforcement Focus

  

  The Serious Fraud Office’s recent deferred prosecution agreement with multinational security services company G4S suggests the agency’s approach to compliance, program remediation and corporate renewal is evolving to favor parent company involvement and the appointment of independent compliance monitors, say Chris Roberts and James Ford at Mayer Brown.

• Opinion

  Time To Fix Human Rights Abuses In US Gov't Supply Chains

  

  The U.S. government buys goods made in global supply chains where human and labor rights violations are commonplace, so to drive better rights compliance among contractors, it should adopt six key reforms to the federal procurement process, says Isabelle Glimcher at the New York University Stern School of Business.

• Opinion

  Reflections On The UK Bribery Act 10 Years On

  

  While the U.K. Bribery Act has been positive overall, regulators should seek urgent reform to better enable the investigation and prosecution of companies and individuals for economic crimes, especially in cases directly harming people and the environment, says Chris Phillips at Alvarez & Marsal.

• Human Rights Are Becoming A Compliance Issue

  

  A recent commitment from the European Union's commissioner for justice to introduce rules for mandatory corporate human rights due diligence next year may signal the arrival of this issue as a global business imperative, making it as fundamental as anti-corruption diligence, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• 5 Steps For Keeping Supply Chains Free Of Uighur Slavery

  

  In light of a March report identifying 83 global brands suspected of supply chain links to forced labor of Uighurs — an ethnic minority long targeted by the Chinese government — companies should adopt certain procedures to identify red flags in their own supply chains, say Benjamin Britz and Rayhan Asat at Hughes Hubbard.

• Perspectives

  Addressing Modern Slavery Inside And Outside The UK

  

  As the problem of modern slavery persists, U.K. companies must take a broad approach when rooting out slave labor in their supply chains, and should not ignore the risk posed by suppliers within the U.K., says Maria Theodoulou of Stokoe.