全球供應鏈法規之崛起及其特徵──以歐盟企業永續盡職調查指令為中心

The Emergence and Characteristics of Global Supply Chain Regulation: Focus on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

身處人權、勞動及環保標準較高國家之企業，常會透過與標準相對較低國家中之供應商之交易來降低成本，進而對當地的人權及環境造成不利之影響。高標準國家為減少商業行為對境外人權及環境之不良影響，往往僅能透過市場力量及公眾壓力，要求國內企業減少與此類不名譽供應商之往來。而供應鏈管理法規即是為了達成此一目的之重要法規工具。供應鏈管理法規的主要內涵，包含了盡職調查義務、資訊揭露義務及相關的驗證標示制度等。首先必須先透過要求企業遵守盡職調查義務，進行產品來源之追溯、確認存在對人權及環境造成侵害之特定風險、進行風險評估並提出處理方案。再經由資訊揭露義務公開相關資訊，輔以驗證標示等機制強化其公信力，最終影響消費者或投資人等利害關係人之決定等。然而，供應鏈管理法規雖有其合法正當之目的，但其一方面會對境外供應商之貿易造成不利，另一方面則因存在欠缺執行力及規範架構破碎等缺陷，亦有可能無法達到其目的，故有違反WTO不歧視原則及必要性原則之虞。歐盟於2024年5月通過了《企業永續盡職調查指令》（Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, CSDDD），此一法案是否能促進供應鏈法規達到緩解境外人權及環保侵害之問題，並排除其WTO協定之合法性疑慮，即為本文研究之重心。

As a consequence of globalization and the phenomena of racing to the bottom in the global market, multinational companies located in countries with higher human rights and environmental protection standards usually can't resist the advantages gained from the interactions with foreign suppliers in the lower standard countries. This enables them to avoid liability for their harmful impacts on host countries either by exploiting weak and poorly enforced domestic regulation in developing countries. To mitigate the detrimental effect resulting from the international trade and commercial activities, the supply chain management regulation is one of the effective tools to deal with the problem of non-application of high standards to the foreign supplies. By imposing the obligation of due diligence in companies in the home countries, the regulation requires them to identify the risk of violation of human rights and the environment in the supply chain, make risk assessments, and map plans to avoid or reduce the risk. Besides the due diligence procedures, companies also have the obligation of information disclosures to allow the interest parties, such as consumers and inventors to access the decisive information and make decisions based on it. The purpose of the supply chain management regulation is to affect the companies’behaviors through public pressure and market power and eventually improve the situation of human rights and environment in the lower standard or poor domestic law enforcement countries. However, lack of effective enforcement and framework fragments of the supply chain regulations have raised several concerns about their effectiveness and justification, especially the character of supply chain regulations sometimes have an adverse impact on international trade which will cause disputes possibly. The EU has adopted binding legislation and voluntary initiatives to address human rights and environmental violations in the sectors traditionally worst affected, such as extractive industries, timber, garment, and leather industries. The limitation and insufficiencies of these regulations have been criticized for a long time. However, there are signals that European Commission is moving towards proposing a comprehensive and mandatory due diligence system at EU level. This article is a bid to introduce the development of global supply chain regulations with a focus on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and analyze whether the problems of WTO consistency could be resolved or not.