Horizontal Legislation: Cascading Due Diligence Through Model Contract Clauses
Editors
Larry Catá Backer & Claire Methven O’Brien
Files
Description
Human rights due diligence (HRDD) norms can be legalised and operationalised through contractual commitments. Contractual obligations are binding as a matter of contract law regardless of whether any obligation is imposed by legislative act or judicial decision. By entering into contracts requiring HRDD, companies can turn soft law, or even mere norms, into hard law obligations. Where there are preexisting hard-law obligations, contracts can tailor the contract terms to the needs of the parties and the industry, transforming vague legislative or regulatory standards into concrete industrial contexts, and can also expand the obligations imposed by legislation or regulation. To facilitate the drafting of such contracts, a working group of the American Bar Association Business Law Section published Model Contract Clauses (MCCs). These MCCs reflect the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. The MCCs thereby enable companies to make HRDD compliance legally effective (the contract can impose a legal remedy for any breach) and operationally likely (the contract can include specifications for both the end product and the process by which it is made, harnessing the operational function of contracts). This chapter will address the evolution of direct and indirect global HRDD requirements, and the role contracts can play in establishing enforceable HRDD obligations.
Publication Date
9-5-2025
Book Title
New Legal Norms on Human Rights Due Diligence
Publisher
Routledge
Keywords
model contract clauses, global value chains, human rights, supply contracts, international sales, worker health and safety, corporate social responsibility, human rights due diligence, HRDD, due diligence, UN Guiding Principles, OECD Guidelines, HRDD compliance, corporate compliance, contractual obligations, labor laws, regulatory requirements, responsible business conduct
Disciplines
Commercial Law | Comparative and Foreign Law | Contracts | Human Rights Law | Intellectual Property Law | International Law | International Trade Law | Labor and Employment Law | Law | Law and Society | Legal Remedies | Organizations Law | Science and Technology Law | Transnational Law
Recommended Citation
Maslow, Susan A.; Miller, Patrick; and Snyder, David V., "Horizontal Legislation: Cascading Due Diligence Through Model Contract Clauses" (2025). Contributions to Books. 360.
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/360