Civil society organizations urge the National Assembly and the Korean Government to actively work towards the enactment of the legislation.

• Representative Jung Taeho (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwanak-eul, Seoul) introduced the Act on Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Business Management on September 1 to prevent and address human rights and environmental violations by business enterprises in their global supply chains. Representative Jung and a network of civil society organizations(Korean Transnational Corporations Watch*) co-hosted a press conference on the same day to urge the National Assembly and the Korean Government to enact the bill as soon as possible.
• Human rights and environmental due diligence refers to a set of procedures that requires companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate negative human rights and environmental impacts, as well as transparently disclose relevant information. Previously a voluntary practice undertaken by a few leading companies, there has been increasing criticism that merely voluntary action is insufficient to address transnational human rights and environmental abuse, and several countries have introduced or are taking steps to establish a corporate duty to implement human rights and environmental due diligence.
• France, Germany, and Norway have already introduced laws on human rights due diligence, and the EU is going through legislative procedures to enact a directive on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Japan, a neighboring country of South Korea, is also actively discussing the enactment of such laws at the government level.
• The Act on Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Business Management covers the core elements of corporate human rights and environmental due diligence introduced in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and OECD Guidelines, including making and internalizing commitment to respect human rights and the environment, implementing human rights and environmental impact assessments, monitoring the effect of the measures taken, disclosing relevant information, and operating grievance mechanisms.
• For the first time in Korea, the bill prescribes corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the environment, and stipulates the corporate duty to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence. The scope of this duty is limited to companies with more than 500 employees or more than 200 billion KRW in revenue. Small and medium-sized enterprises are excluded, but the scope may be expanded by presidential decree in the future, considering domestic and international situations.
• The bill also defines the supply chain as business relationships, both direct and indirect, formed at every stage of a company’s value chain from raw material acquisition to final consumption. It imposes due diligence obligations to companies on activities of direct and indirect suppliers in their supply chain, however, appropriate measures may vary depending on the influence the companies have over the suppliers’ actions. Meanwhile, the government shall establish guidelines, corporate disclosure standards, and systems and policies to support companies with the implementation of human rights and environmental due diligence.

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