Polluted rivers, highly toxic mine waste and destroyed rainforests: the unscrupulous business practices of some Swiss corporations have been well known since the vote on the Responsible Business Initiative. Before the vote, Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter repeatedly promised to campaign for an “internationally coordinated” corporate responsibility law and a “level playing field” for corporations in Switzerland and Europe. Now that even the EU Commission has presented a corporate responsibility law, there are finally no more excuses!
We call on the Federal Council and Parliament to keep their promise and draw up an effective corporate responsibility law now. In line with the international trend, this should include the following points:
- Risk-based due diligence for human rights and environmental protection in accordance with international standards (in particular UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises).
- An independent supervisory authority with comprehensive powers, modeled on the draft EU directive.
- Civil liability in line with Swiss law for human rights or environmental damage that could have been prevented through appropriate care.
Examples of effective laws
There are already laws in a number of countries that show what is possible if the political will is there. For example, Germany and Norway:
The Supply Chain Act was passed in Germany in 2021. In addition to an extensive due diligence obligation along the value chain, there is a supervisory authority that monitors compliance with the law by companies and can impose heavy fines in the event of misconduct.
In Norway, the “Transparency Act” was passed in the summer. The law stipulates a duty of due diligence with regard to human rights and working conditions – such as living wages – along the entire value chain. The law applies to companies with 50 or more employees and is enforced by a consumer protection authority, which can impose fines.
Petition “Keeping promises”
Two years ago, our Responsible Business Initiative narrowly failed to win a majority of the cantons, but now we are joining forces with a broad coalition to launch a new petition for an effective Responsible Business Act. In just 100 days, we want to collect 100,000 signatures for our petition and send a clear signal to the Federal Council: The population does not want Switzerland to soon be the only country in Europe without a corporate responsibility law
