Legal & Regulatory News

Platform on Sustainable Finance publishes draft report on minimum human rights safeguards

On 11 July 2022, the Platform on Sustainable Finance published its draft report (the Report) on the application of minimum human rights safeguards in relation to the Taxonomy Regulation ((EU) 2020/852).

The minimum safeguards set out in Article 18 of the Taxonomy Regulation require that companies implement procedures to comply with OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises and the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. The Report aims to provide advice on how compliance with minimum safeguards may be assessed. The Report identifies four core topics for which compliance with minimum safeguards should be defined, namely:

• human rights, including workers’ rights;
• bribery/corruption;
• taxation; and
• fair competition.

The Report recommends, amongst other things, that the following should be regarded as non-compliance with minimum human rights standards:

1. inadequate or non-existent corporate due diligence processes on human rights, including labour rights, bribery, taxation, and fair competition;
2. the final conviction of companies in court in respect of any of the above topics;
3. a lack of collaboration with a National Contact Point (NCP), and an assessment of noncompliance with OECD guidelines by an OECD NCP; and
4. non-response to allegations by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.

The Platform on Sustainable Finance is seeking stakeholder feedback on the Report by 6 September 2022.

Click here to read the Report.

Click here to provide feedback.