The German Government Will Follow The Example Of France And Britain, Forcing The Textile Industry To Enter The Sustainable Supply Chain.

Over the years, the German government has been trying to encourage local enterprises to improve supply chain, social responsibility, environmental protection and workers' rights and interests.

But some politicians think the move is not big enough and the progress is not fast enough.

In February of this year, the German Ministry for Economic Development drafted a legislative draft the Sustainable Supply Chain Law sustainable supply chain law, warning that entrepreneurs in the textile industry would enforce stringent legal measures in 2020 if they did not take the initiative to improve, including millions of dollars in fines and imprisonment for senior executives.

The new law will have a huge impact on the textile and fashion industry in Germany, and has also been controversial.

A spokesman for the Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry said that they believed the German government was endangering enterprises for political correctness: "they are not supporting our own sustainable textile industry, but are deliberately destroying it."

Instead of abolishing bureaucracy, they increased the burden.

The chairman of the German Employers Association described the draft as "nonsense".

African Association of German Business complained: "it's frustrating..."

Bluff. "

But Germany's minister of economic development, Gerd M M ller, is resolute: "I have to stand in front of trade associations to oppose child labor. This is very disappointing."

In an interview in January, he also said, "the boss of the company told me that they could not control their supply chain.

This is simply unreasonable.

As B rbel Kofler, a German government Commissioner for human rights, recently said, "the time has come for companies to act voluntarily."

In view of the sustainable development and environmental protection problems of enterprise production, in 2016, the German government formulated a voluntary National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights (referred to as NAP).

In the next two years, the German authorities will check whether the more than 1000 companies that have signed the plan have taken positive change measures according to the plan.

The inspection will begin in January this year, and the results of the first inspection will be announced in May.

If half of these enterprises are not implemented, then the government will take national legislative action to implement the "sustainable supply chain law".

Gerd M u ller has also asked German enterprises to join an initiative established in 2014, called the Textilb ndnis or Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (Sustainable Textile partnership), to voluntarily abide by some environmental and social code of conduct.

In German politics, NAP seems to have gained wider cross party support than Gerd M ller's "sustainable supply chain law", but there are still some arguments.

Critics think the plan is too simple for businesses.

The sustainable supply chain law is unacceptable to many people.

A spokesman for the German brand Hugo Boss said the brand supported the "standardized industry environment", but the draft law "added significant additional obligations to multinationals, and this is targeted at the entire supply chain network of the company.

This will lead to huge additional costs. "

Even local clothing companies such as Vaude, an outdoor specialist in southern Germany, who are known for their pparency and environmental protection in the supply chain, also pointed out that the law is difficult to comply with.

"We basically support this plan and we think German textile industry should take responsible actions," said Jan Lorch, head of Vaude sales and logistics.

But he pointed out that even Vaude believes that the law needs to be adjusted.

He added that according to the draft, the brand may need to hire a compliance manager, and "we need to do more in-depth research on our supply chain".

Moreover, it is hard to accept that "there will be some pretty severe penalties for those who do not comply with the rules," including a fine of millions of euros, or even a prison for executives.

KiK, Germany's largest textile discount shop, supports the legislation.

KiK has more than 3500 branches in Europe, and many negative reviews have been made in the past due to poor working conditions.

In a statement, the company said that "KiK" is one of the few companies that have long called for legislation to require companies to undertake due diligence.

We support this view, because there is currently no specific provision with a legal basis. "

Since 2015, KiK has been a member of Sustainable Textiles of Gerd M ller.

KiK is also one of the largest customers of Ali Enterprises textile mill in Pakistan Karachi area.

In September 2012, a serious fire broke out in Ali Enterprises, killing more than 260 workers.

The company was brought to court in Germany by some relatives of the deceased, but the case was dismissed in January this year due to the expiration of the limitation of action in Pakistan.

KiK believes that the result of this case is that there is no law requiring enterprises to do due diligence: "we believe that if there is a clear legal basis, this thing will not develop so far."

KiK's opponents in the court, the non-profit legal organization, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights also agree with this view.

The organization believes that as a major customer of Ali Enterprises, KiK should improve building safety.

Miriam Saage-Maass, coordinator of the business and human rights program of the organization, said: "because of the existing law, the question of whether KiK is responsible is still very unclear and it takes a long time to solve it.

If we have such a law on due diligence, then KiK will settle out of court sooner, or we will submit the case to the court sooner. "

The controversial "sustainable supply chain law" is likely to be further discussed and may be diluted.

Vaude Jan Lorch pointed out: "this draft is ambitious, involves a wide range of requirements and is very demanding.

I guess there will be further discussions and negotiations between the two sides in the future, and then a compromise will be reached.

The draft law in Germany is actually similar to the laws recently passed by France and Britain, but more stringent.

France drafted a similar draft in response to the collapse of Rana Plaza, the Corporate Duty of alert law corporate responsibility vigilance law.

At first, it was also controversial. After that, the negotiations abolished prison sentences for senior executives and applied only to enterprises with more than 5000 employees.

The final draft was adopted in 2017.

A spokesman for the German Ministry of economic development seems to confirm this. He said: "preparations are in progress. If there is a similar situation, we can quickly start the legislation.

These include legal provisions for due diligence.

In the coming months, we will continue to explore the draft. "