Transnational Sustainability Laws and the Regulation of Global Value Chains: Comparison and a Framework for Analysis

26 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 5 (2019), 602–627

31 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2021

See all articles by Jaakko Salminen

Jaakko Salminen

Copenhagen Business School - CBS Law; Lund University - Faculty of Law

Mikko Rajavuori

University of Turku, Faculty of Law; University of Eastern Finland - School of Law

Date Written: October 15, 2019

Abstract

Several corporate disclosure and due diligence laws related to the social and environmental impacts of globalized production have been enacted across the world over the last decade. While the emergence, operation and impact of such ‘transnational sustainability laws’ have already been extensively analyzed, their legal operability remains poorly understood. This a significant omission because transnational sustainability laws form a novel and increasingly important attempt to conceptualize and govern the new logic of global production networks — global value chains — and their regulatory infrastructure. Against this backdrop, this article deploys a comparison of eleven recent transnational sustainability laws and develops an analytical framework to probe legally-operative conceptualizations of global value chains. By analyzing how transnational sustainability laws conceptualize the value chain, the lead firm and adequate value chain governance, we argue, these instruments emerge as proxies for a legally-operative framework that better delineates the emerging law of global value chains. Thus, our analysis contributes to growing literature on the potential and limits of transnational sustainability laws as well as to the development of nascent ‘global value chain law’.

Keywords: transnational sustainability laws, global value chains, lead firms, value chain governance, contractual organization, supply chain liability, corporate social responsibility, sustainability regulation, comparative law, private law

Suggested Citation

Salminen, Jaakko and Rajavuori, Mikko, Transnational Sustainability Laws and the Regulation of Global Value Chains: Comparison and a Framework for Analysis (October 15, 2019). 26 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 5 (2019), 602–627, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3484542

Jaakko Salminen (Contact Author)

Copenhagen Business School - CBS Law ( email )

Porcelaenshave 18B, 1
Frederiksberg 2000
Denmark

Lund University - Faculty of Law ( email )

Lilla Gråbrödersgatan 4
Lund, 222 22
Sweden

Mikko Rajavuori

University of Turku, Faculty of Law ( email )

Turku
Finland

University of Eastern Finland - School of Law ( email )

Joensuu
Finland

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