Is mandatory environmental and human rights due diligence coming to the UK?

By Antony Crockett, Ollie Elgie and Rebecca Chin

A private members bill has been placed before the UK House of Lords that sets out an ambitious regime for mandatory environmental and human rights due diligence for businesses. The Bill also seeks to introduce an overarching duty on companies to prevent environmental and human rights harms, reporting obligations and new avenues for civil liability and regulatory enforcement. In this article, we analyse the proposals in comparison to other existing and proposed due diligence regimes and consider the likelihood of further law reform in this area.

On 28 November 2023, Baroness Young of Hornsey introduced the Commercial Organisations and Public Authorities Duty (Human Rights and Environment) Bill (the "Bill") into the UK House of Lords. A "private member's bill" introduced in this way often has a long and complicated road to becoming a law (which we discuss below). While it is unclear at this stage if the Bill will be supported by the Government or opposition, it is nevertheless interesting to consider the nature of the proposed obligations.

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