National “Business and Human Rights” action plan adopted

The action plan will establish the first uniform and verifiable standards for safeguarding human rights. The policy requires that companies comply with their duty of care towards human rights. The goal is to improve the status of human rights along the supply and value chains of companies both in Germany and around the world. The plan therefore combines the strengths of the different players within the state, business, civil society and trade unions.

In defining this duty of care, the German government has drawn closely on the guiding principles laid out by the UN on the issues of business and human rights. The guiding principles are based on three pillars:

(I) The state duty to protect human rights

(II) The corporate responsibility to respect human rights

(III) Access to remedy

These pillars demonstrate the duty that states have towards human rights and the responsibility held by companies in terms of their global value and supply chains. The guiding principles from the United Nations Human Rights Council were unanimously adopted in 2011.

In cooperation with the UN Special Representative Professor John Ruggie and the non-profit organisation Shift, Roever Broenner Susat Mazars has developed the “Business & Human Rights Framework” based on the UN Guiding Principles. This framework sets a standard for the systematic integration of this topic into business processes and for the initiation of reporting on human rights. Companies such as WalMart, Visa, Hennes & Mauritz, Apple and Nike have already consulted this framework to draw up their own human rights declarations.

What does this mean for companies specifically?

The German government will initially focus on the individual responsibility of companies. The goal is for at least 50% of all German-based companies with more than 500 employees to have integrated the duty of care towards human rights into their business processes by 2020. As a part of this, companies that have not implemented certain procedures and measures will have to explain why not (“comply or explain” approach). If companies do not adequately adopt the standards laid out in the action plan, the future plan explicitly stipulates that legal action is possible.

The framework has already had an impact in real terms. An initial example of this is the planned increase in the consideration of human rights issues when it comes to awarding export credit insurance. The test procedure in relation to the observation of human rights issues for applications for export credit insurance, direct investments abroad and untied loans is consequently being further intensified.