Due Diligence: German NGOs pursue Amazon and IKEA over Bangladesh

German NGOs accuse IKEA and Amazon of breaching the German Supply Chain Act by refusing to sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Safety. NGOs are asking a German court to order companies based in other countries to sign a trade union agreement in a third country

The big picture: The advent of EU wide due diligence legislation will inevitably result in speculative court cases being run by NGOs and other advocacy groups. Even if most of these cases are found to be without merit, the time, and costs of defending against them will be considerable.

The bottom line: European businesses face increasing risks and costs from various laws, which can affect their competitiveness and profitability. When you add them all together, businesses based in Europe are at risk of fines of over 20% of global turnover from various laws.

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BHRRC website: article