📋 Tender Overview
Global Value Chains have transformed the dynamics of production, and the way companies are organized. At the same time, GVCs have greatly exacerbated the gap concerning corporate accountability for human rights abuses and environmental degradation associated with these disparate networks of production. The voluntary international standards on responsible business conduct have not resulted in large-scale improvement in terms of protecting human rights and environment, especially within the GVCs. Against this backdrop, the European Union has launched the Proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. The AENEAS Module aims at providing a still missing critical understanding of the rising European due diligence law (EDDL) in the context of GVCs by exploring its connections with the new regulatory wave of mandatory sustainability and due diligence laws. Drawing on nascent studies on this burning issue, the AENEAS Module will contribute to share theoretical and practical knowledge on the legal operability of due diligence laws in tackling corporate impunity and ensuring respect for human rights and environmental values across the worldwide value chains. The Module also aims to build civil society’s awareness about the role that the Union will play as sustainability ruler globally due the EDDL. The teaching and research activities will foster dialogue between the academic world and society, by engaging scholars, experts, corporate professionals, and civil society actors in exploring methods and practice to operationalize due diligence. The Module aspires at the same time to develop and share policy recommendations and model laws to empower Member States and Third Countries to implement due diligence laws. Contributing to a new strand of EU Studies, the AENEAS Module will ultimately cast the idea that European Due Diligence Law enable the Union to foster the sustainability agenda and to legally communicate its values globally, across the chains.
