Due diligence, reporting and transparency in supply chains: The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act

The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (hereinafter ‘MSA’) primarily aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework to combat slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. It requires large businesses to disclose each year what actions they have taken to ensure there is no modern slavery in their business or supply chains. This is called the Transparency in Supply Chains (hereinafter ‘TISC’) provision (Section 54), which obliges commercial organizations to report on the efforts to assess the risks in their own supply chain and business practices, as well as prevent labour abuses from occurring, and remediating those that do. Section 54 of the MSA appears in the context of international developments to address the human rights impact of corporate activity articulating the corporate responsibility to respect, as defined in the UNGPs. Through a series of domestic norms, corporations are obliged to disclose and report on their efforts to exercise due diligence in their supply chain of minerals (Section 1502 United States Dodd Frank Act); the risks of human trafficking in their supply chain (California Transparency in Supply Chains Act); their environmental, social and human rights impacts (EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive); and prepare a ‘vigilance plan’ regarding risks in their supply chain (French Duty of Vigilance Law)