Expert Analysis

• 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.

• UK Antitrust Watchdog Proposals Would Bolster Enforcement

  

  The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority's proposals for reshaping competition enforcement and consumer protection would shift the historical balance in U.K. competition policy, increasing regulatory burden on companies while weakening judicial scrutiny of CMA actions, says Bill Batchelor of Skadden.

• UK's New 'Name And Shame' Approach To Anti-Trafficking

  

  There has been considerable anxiety and speculation from companies over the annual transparency statement required by the U.K. Modern Slavery Act, but a recent tender announcement from the U.K. Home Office provides key insights into what to expect, say attorneys with Perkins Coie.

• A Victory For Legal Privilege In Cross-Border Investigations

  

  The U.K. Court of Appeal's recent decision in Serious Fraud Office v. Eurasian Natural Resources is a substantial step toward confirming the application of legal privilege in internal investigations, and has significantly reduced the divergence in U.K. and U.S. privilege law, say attorneys with Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP.

• Is It Time To Prosecute UK Cos. For Human Rights Violations?

  

  The idea of holding companies criminally liable for human rights abuses committed overseas has gained traction over the past decade. Though the U.K. government has made it clear that it has no immediate plans for further legislation in this area, calls for corporate criminal liability are only likely to get louder, say Andrew Smith and Alice Lepeuple of Corker Binning.

• UK Employment Law Risks In Cross-Border M&A

  

  U.K. employment law has developed in myriad ways and continues to do so. The acquisition of U.K.-based companies or assets will therefore often give rise to employment law considerations that are unfamiliar to U.S. buyers, says Richard Moore of Lewis Silkin LLP.