The newly introduced EU supply chain regulation emphasises the importance of enforcing social and environmental rules, particularly in third countries. For example, the EU's Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive holds importing firms accountable for breaches in their supply chains....

We exploit an information shock related to the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and use detailed customs data to analyze how smaller, non-listed firms respond when expecting accountability for externalities beyond their organizational boundaries. Product-level regressions reveal a...

This article aims to contribute to the limited pool of solutions designed to deter or mitigate hedge fund manager fraud and reduce the associated costs to investors and other hedge fund industry stakeholders. The methodology involves presenting three hedge fund indsutry fraud cases, focusing on...

The environmental, climate and social due diligence procedures outline the European Investment Bank's approach to assessing, managing and monitoring the environmental, climate and social impacts and risks of its operations throughout the project cycle. They also clarify the respective roles and...

Corporate sustainability due diligence (CSDD) is needed in order to achieve a transition towards a green economy and deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the Commission proposed the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in 2019. In March 2024, the Council...

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT), investigates whether EU institutions implement human rights and sustainability due diligence when they purchase goods and services. Based on documentary analysis and interviews, this study finds that...

Objective Due Diligence is considered an internal practice that analyzes and identifies the actual situation of an organization. Having a strategic relevance and impact on Mergers and Acquisitions, it provides a solid foundation for the final decision or negotiation. Given this relevance, it is...

After the agreement of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in December 2023, a few formal steps remain to introduce the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The legislation is intended to improve environmental and labor standards along the chain of...

The EU Directive on Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence has sparked fierce debate about the regulations of supply chains. The Directive's objectives are aligned with European values. Assuming that enforcements of social and environmental rules are absent in certain third countries, it privatises...

The paper examines possible mechanisms for trade union engagement in global value chains, especially in the context of emerging human rights due diligence frameworks. By examining existing literature on value chain analysis, trade policy, and governance mechanisms, the paper tries to generate a...

The EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) will have a significant impact on foreign investments. The CSDD will compel some non-EU companies to conduct HRDD throughout their supply chains. This Perspective emphasizes the need to align IIAs with mandatory HRDD requirements...

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has issued guidelines for banks' counterparty credit risk (CCR) management. The guidelines include key practices critical to resolving long-standing industry weaknesses in CCR management, including the need to: (i) conduct comprehensive due diligence at...

The article discusses how proactive contract theory could be used to translate the ambitious objectives of the European Commission's current draft proposal on corporate sustainability due diligence into actual business practices in complex value chains and networks. Proactive contract theory...

While the issue of corporate responsibility in global value chains for environmental harm or human rights abuses has been at the centre of discussions, the responsibility of financial institutions in the global value chain of money appears to be one of the new frontiers – and is probably one...

This paper discusses an effort of creative lawyering by a Working Group of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association to help enable business clients to prevent and mitigate human rights abuse in their supply chains. A Working Group of the Business Section of the American Bar...

We examine the value added by venture capital investors during the due-diligence process. We use data from a seed fund that quasi-randomly assigns applicants to due diligence, creating a natural experiment. We find that due-diligence assignment leads to higher average growth, even for companies...

Corporate human rights due diligence is now a social fact; it is no longer merely an idea or aspiration. This paper uses economist Frank H. Knight’s famous, albeit controversial, distinction between risk and uncertainty to help elucidate foundational concepts and challenges for the theory,...

The policy challenge. Citizens and politicians in Western democracies have increasingly become aware of the importance of human rights, civil liberties, social rights, and sustainability issues as well as the different adherence to basic rights (such as equal treatment) all over the world. This...

Over the last decade, significant legal developments seeking to implement the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) have taken place at the domestic, regional, and international level. In particular, various types of laws have been developed in that respect. Some...

This paper shows that due diligence requirements have become an important addition to the legal and regulatory tool box. Through such requirements corporate actors are encouraged to set up and operate procedures that prevent certain outcomes from materialising. Liability can then be attached to...

This article examines the under-researched, inter-connected issues of substantive remedy and a role for OECD National Contact Points (NCPs), arguing that NCPs have important potential to complement judicial remedy institutions or administrative supervision. The EU’s corporate sustainability...

The aim of this chapter is to inform reflection on business self-regulation (or corporate social responsibility, ‘CSR’) in addressing climate change by drawing on developments in ‘business and human rights’ and the experience accumulated in the EU. Despite dissimilarities in addressing...

The German government intends to establish standards for responsible sourcing of metals, and laid out its objectives in a position paper in January 2023 ("Paths to sus­tainable and resilient raw material supplies"). German firms source much of the metals they use through traders, exchanges and...

How do investors choose the intensity of their due diligence, and how does that choice affect investment outcomes? Using cell phone signal data, we measure the duration of pre-investment meetings between venture capitalists (VCs) and startup employees. This measure captures one important...