UK's Trade Strategy & Responsible Business

The UK's Trade Strategy

The Government has launched its new Trade Strategy, which announces a review of the Government’s approach to ensuring responsible business conduct. The review will examine measures to address forced labour and environmental risks in the global supply chains of businesses operating in the UK.  

The Government said:

“All UK businesses should respect human rights and the environment in line with the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the ILO Declaration on Multinational Enterprises. To this end, we reaffirm that businesses should conduct risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence. We expect all businesses in scope to comply with all relevant legislation including section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and the UK Bribery Act 2010. We have issued new statutory guidance on Transparency in Supply Chains to provide robust, practical advice on the measures businesses should take.

“However, we recognise that concerns continue to be raised regarding the effectiveness of the UK’s regime in preventing human rights, labour rights, and environmental harms in supply chains. Within a fast-changing international landscape, we acknowledge reforms introduced by many of our trading partners.”

Critically, any measures considered will promote a coordinated approach to responsible business issues that minimises costs, consistent with the Prime Minister’s commitment to reduce the administrative cost of complying with regulation by 25% over the Parliamentary term.

Key actions include: 

• A review of DBT’s approach to ensuring responsible business conduct, focusing on the global supply chains of businesses operating in the UK. Critically, any measures considered will promote a coordinated approach to responsible business issues that minimises administrative costs. This includes a review of alternative measures to tackle forced labour.  

• The establishment of the Office for Responsible Business Conduct to replace the UK's National Contact Point, which is mandated to promote the OECD Guidelines on RBC. This strengthened office will better reflect the importance of its mission and increase its visibility to all stakeholders. It will continue to sit within the Department for Business and Trade, and we will work to make it as effective as possible in supporting businesses to integrate responsible business practices and help victims of corporate malpractice through continuing to operate a non-judicial grievance mechanism. 

• A commitment to strengthen cooperation and coordinated action to promote Responsible Business Conduct, including tackling forced labour,  through multilateral forums including the G7 and OECD, because global problems require globally coordinated solutions.  

The BRC have been calling for tougher measures to improve and standardise approaches to due diligence. Join us on Wednesday for our session on mHREDD – more details here.