Limitations and perspectives of responsible management of Global Value Chains: From codes of conduct to the French law on the duty of vigilance

• Main Author: Vercher-Chaptal, Corinne
• Other Authors: Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord (CEPN), Université Paris 13 (UP13)-Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: droit; scipo; Abbott; Iceland
• Online Access: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02141407/file/Vercher-Chaptal-EURAM%202018.pdf; https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02141407

International audience This paper first recall the dynamics of the globalisation and financialisation of GVCs and the way in which they impact social conditions of production. We then present the limitations of voluntary ethical schemes to ensure the sustainable and responsible functioning of GVCs. To deal with these limitations, civil society in France backed a law providing for more stringent forms of regulation based on the recognition that the multinationals managing global value chains have a legal liability. After a lengthy itinerary and despite intense opposition from private-sector actors, the law was adopted on 28 March 2017. This is an innovative law not only with respect to the process employed for its adoption, which involved collaboration between civil society, political actors, trade unions and academic experts, but also with respect to its contents. By combining hard-law and soft-law mechanisms (Abbott and Snidal, 2000), government and private-sector standards, the law reflects a significant change in how responsibility in GVCs is conceived. The paper concludes with an analysis of the reasons why 2 the French law on multinationals' duty of vigilance, despite its shortcomings occasioned by the search for a political compromise, represents a major initiative in the regulation of GVCs.