Shortly before the German supply chain law comes into force at the beginning of the year, business representatives have called for simplifications in the implementation. “The law is poorly made and it comes at the wrong time. We are extremely dissatisfied with it,” said Dirk Jandura, President of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services, of the German Press Agency. He does not know of any wholesaler who is against human rights and environmental protection or for child labor. But the implementation of the law is a disaster. “A lot of things are very, very difficult to handle.”
Jandura also criticized a catalog of questions from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), which is intended to check compliance with the law. This is “a purely theoretical construct and impractical”.
The President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Peter Adrian, also criticized the catalog of questions. The Bafa plague the companies in the worst crisis in decades with 437 data fields. That was “an absurdity”” The DIHK had warned in vain of a “cascade effect”, according to which companies passed on the requirements of the law to suppliers and business partners. “Why can’t we at least postpone the implementation and in the meantime make the implementation more practicable together?”.
The President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, emphasized that industry supports the goals of the Supply Chain Act. “However, I am afraid that the world will not be a better place if the law comes into force as currently planned,” said the BDI boss. The questionnaire was “a bureaucratic nightmare and is strangling medium-sized companies in particular”. all companies met, “because large companies inevitably pass the requirements on to their smaller suppliers.” Bafa must now greatly simplify the procedures and the questionnaire on the reporting obligation.
The German supply chain law comes into force on January 1st. It initially applies to companies with more than 3000 employees. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), around 900 companies are affected. At its core, it is about companies taking responsibility for ensuring that human rights are respected in their supply chains. To do this, they will have to implement a number of measures in the future. (dpa)