Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business, Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw oraz Polish Bar Council, together with partners – law firm Wardyński & Partners and Eversheds Sutherland.

invite you to the international conference:

From soft law to hard law. CSDDD implementation and enforcement.

Lessons from France and Germany regarding the enforcement of the (national) due diligence legislation.

(Od soft law do wiążących regulacji. Jak wdrażać i egzekwować CSDDD. 

Wnioski z funkcjonowania niemieckich i francuskich regulacji w sprawie należytej staranności dot. praw człowieka.)

The conclusion of a political agreement on the most controversial issues in mid-December 2023, as part of the negotiations on the content of the draft Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive  (CSDDD, CS3D), increased significantly the chances of adopting this directive still in the current term of the European Parliament. Unless something unforeseeable happens, we will know the final shape of the directive in the spring of 2024. The end of January 2024 seems therefore a good moment to familiarize the Polish audience, in particular lawyers, representatives of public administration and politicians, with its provisions that have already been agreed and start a discussion on its implementation.

Even though conceptual work on CS3D began already at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, and the European Commission project was preceded by detailed analysis commissioned by the European Commission and a number of analyzes commissioned by the European Parliament (including Krajewski & Faracik „Substantive Elements of Potential Legislation on Human Rights Due Diligence”, 2020), a broader discussion on this directive has not taken place in Poland so far. This is despite the fact that it goes much further than the legendary and demanding Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and ESRS, and its adoption will result in changes to many acts, including: in KSH. The directive contains many provisions that will, to a greater or lesser extent, be groundbreaking for the way business should be conducted.

An exception in this respect is the work of the Due Diligence Working Group that functions within the Council for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility operating at one of the ministries, although the group of its members is rather limited.

The conference aims to change this state of affairs and start a public discussion on the draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD Directive, CSDDD or CS3D).

The conference will be attended by representatives of the organizers and strategic partners as well as foreign guests: prof. David Snyder, Professor of Law, Director of the Business Law Program, American University – Washington College of Law, prof. Martijn Scheltema, attorney-partner, Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn N.V., Stéphane Brabant, senior partner, Paris Avocat à la Cour, Trinity International AARPI, Bettina Brown, German Institute for Human Rights, Daniel Schönfelder, LL.M. (Bogota), representatives of the Polish public administration and law practitioners.

The aim of the conference is to start discussion on how to implement and enforce the CS3D directive after its adoption in 2024 at the European level. Since the directive contains a number of groundbreaking solutions – from the point of view of Polish enterprises – during the conference we will focus on two selected issues as to which there is no major doubt whether they will survive the end of the  negotiations or not.

At the beginning of the event, we plan to introduce the content of the directive and the tools developed to support enterprises in meeting the expectations arising from the directive. Then, during the first session, we will focus on solutions supporting responsible purchasing practices, in particular model contract clauses – both in the ABA version and the advanced draft European model contract clauses for supply chain, that aim to respond to the indication of plans by the European Commission regarding plans to develop model contract clauses by the European Commission. (More about the EMC project here).

In the second part of the conference, we will focus on issues related to the enforcement by public administration of the implementation by companies of regulations regarding mandatory due diligence in the field of human rights, in particular we will look into the issue of the establishment of the Supervisory Authorities. The starting point for our discussion will be presentations by law practitioners providing an overview and lessons learned from the implementation of national regulations on mandatory due diligence in the field of human rights in France and Germany.

PROGRAMME

14.00 – Official opening of the conference. Welcome statements by organizers

• prof.  Tomasz Giaro, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw
• prof. Tadeusz Zembrzuski, Plenipotentiary of the Dean of the UW Faculty of Law and Administration for cooperation with legal corporations, University of Warsaw
• Beata Faracik, LL.M., co-founder and President of the Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business
• adw. dr Anna Wilińska-Zelek, Polish Bar Council

14.15 – Due diligence à la EU. Introduction to CSDDD – Beata Faracik, PIHRB

14.40 – From cascading responsibility to responsible purchasing practices  

• American Bar Association Model Contract Clauses – prof. David Snyder, Director of Business Law Program, American University Washington College of Law
• The Draft European Model Contract Clauses for Supply Chains – prof. Martijn Scheltema,  attorney-at-law · partner, Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn N.V., Erasmus University Rotterdam
• EMCs through the lens of the Polish law – adw. Stanisław Drozd, Solicitor-Advocate E&W (Civil), partner at Wardyński & Partners,  Chair of Human Rights in Sport Section, PIHRB
•  Moderated Discussion and Q&A- adw. dr Anna Wilińska-Zelek, Polish Bar Council

16.10 – Coffee break

16.30 – Implementing the mHRDD legislation. Lessons from France and Germany (focus: Holding corporations to account/ Supervisory Authority)

• The Droit du Vigilance through the practitioner’s eye – Stéphane Brabant, Senior Partner, Paris Avocat à la Cour, Trinity International AARPI
• The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act as seen from the practitioner’s perspective. Lessons from a year of existence of the Supervisory Authority (BAFA) – Bettina Braun, German Institute for Human Rights, Daniel Schönfelder, LL.M., Responsible Contracting Project
• Moderated discussion: How to use the experiences and lessons from Germany and France to develop optimal approach to CSDDD transposition in Poland. Which institution (if any existing) should be entrusted with the role of the Supervisory Authority? What other challenges have been identified? 
  • speakers:
    • r.pr. Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz, Undersecretary of State, the Ministry of Justice
    • Monika Kusina-Pycińska, Director of the European Affairs and International Cooperation Department, The Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy
    • dr Wojciech Federczyk, Director of the National School of Public Administration
    • Piotr Kowalik,  Of Counsel at Eversheds Sutherland Poland  
  • moderator: prof. dr hab. Robert Grzeszczak, Law and Administration Department, University of Warsaw

18.00 Concluding observations – adw. Wojciech Bagiński, Chair of the Foreign Commission, Polish Bar Council, partner at Impactiv.Law

The conference is a joint initiative of the co-organizers, i.e. Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business, Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, and Polish Bar Council.

The organization of the event in its current form would not be possible without the support and involvement of our partners: Wardyński & Partners and Eversheds Sutherland.

• Participation in the conference is free of charge, but registration is required.
• THE REGISTRATION FORM IS AVAILABLE HERE – REGISTRATION.
• Attendance is possible in person (Aula, ul. Dobra 55, Warsaw) or online (webinar on Zoom platform).
• A link enabling you to join the online conference will be sent to registered participants to the email addresses provided in the registration form before the meeting. Please log in to Zoom with your full name. People who are not on the list of participants or log in with names that do not allow verification will not be let in to to the conference.
• The conference will be held in Polish and English. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, 2011 (Polish version, official English version)

Gesetz über die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten (dedicated website of the Federal Government) 

Loi 2017-399 du 27 mars 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d’ordre (English version) 

Official website of the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy dedicated to the draft CSDDD (In Polish)

Websites of the EU institutions with information about the CSDDD

Press information about the political agreement regarding the draft CSDDD (tutaj) 

• Council negotiating mandate
• Commission’s original proposal
• Corporate sustainability (background information)

Selected HRDD analysis/studies:

• Markus Krajewski, Beata Faracik, „Substantive Elements of Potential Legislation on Human Rights Due Diligence„(w:) Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation – Options for the EU, European Parliament, June 2020
• British Institute of International and Comparative Law (lead), Civic Consulting and LSE Consulting, Study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain. Final Report & Annexures, February 2020