In this week’s debrief, we highlight the latest legislative developments at the EU level, which include the entry into application of the ESPR prohibition on certain unsold consumer products, and the leaked draft Public Procurement Regulation, which indicates that sustainability will be a significant factor in public procurement. In addition, a landmark case against oil and gas companies has been cleared to proceed concerning the company’s alleged responsibility for the death of a woman during a heat dome event. Our due diligence further readings highlight the strategic toolbox for intersectional justice developed by ECCHR on bridging gaps between climate, nature and human rights litigation approaches.
Concerning the EUDR, the EU has confirmed the exclusion of leather products from its scope through a Delegated Act and published an Implementation Regulation on the use of the Information System. A new projection published in the Science magazine shows that the end of the Amazon Soy Moratorium in Brazil could result in an additional 1.4 million hectares of deforestation by 2036. We also unpack a series of developments in different countries on forced labour import-ban legislation in the wake of the USTR Section 301 investigation. These include moves to strengthen legislation in India, Sri Lanka and Australia. In this context, we further bring to the reader’s attention an insightful comparative analysis of the US and EU forced labour regimes.
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Due Diligence Legislation
Updates:
The Regulation, which entered into force in July 2024 and is part of a wider plan to promote sustainable, repairable, circular and energy-efficient products, prohibits the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear. The ban applies to large companies from this date, while medium-sized companies will follow in 2030. This comes in addition to disclosure obligations on volumes of discarded unsold consumer goods, which already apply to large companies. The Delegated Act clarifying when derogations from the ban apply and introducing a standardised format for disclosure, as well as the Implementing Act had been adopted in February of this year.
The EU Commission is looking to strengthen sustainability in its public procurement, according to a leaked draft.
A leaked draft of the Public Procurement Regulation, which is set to be officially proposed on September 9, indicates that environmental and social considerations will play a stronger role in procurement processes. The Regulation would repeal several existing Directives governing public procurement and replace them with a single Regulation directly applicable across Member States. The current draft aims to integrate environmental requirements relating to circularity, recycled and refurbished content, waste recovery and energy efficiency into public procurement processes. In addition, it defines social outcomes that may be pursued, including social inclusion, labour market integration, accessibility, improved working conditions, equality and human rights in supply chains.
A major ruling moves a wronfgul death lawsuit against major oil companies in the US closer to trial.
In the US, a ruling by a Washington judge to reject major oil companies’ attempts to have a first-of-its-kind case dismissed has allowed the proceedings to move toward discovery. The lawsuit targets ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell and other oil and gas companies over their alleged role in fuelling extreme heat events, including the 2021 heat dome in Seattle that caused the death from hyperthermia of the complainant’s mother. The case, originally filed in May 2025, argues that major fossil fuel companies should be held accountable for the death because they failed to warn the public about the dangers of planet-heating emissions.
The companies’ joint motion to dismiss the case was based on the argument that the lawsuit was pre-empted by federal law because it was attempting to regulate the companies’ emissions. The judge, however, decided that the claims were not about regulating emissions but concerned the death of a single individual, for which the lawsuit seeks damages on the basis of an alleged failure to warn and deceptive advertising. The 2021 Pacific North-West heat dome event killed over 1400 people.
Notes/Further Reading:
The OECD has published a due diligence policy mapping tool to monitor and provide information on existing frameworks.
The tool provides an overview of the due diligence steps included, the issue focus and the supply chain coverage of 21 legislative measures across 11 jurisdictions. It also includes references to each relevant section of the texts corresponding to due diligence steps, issues and scope. Three different types of legislation are included in the mapping: disclosure obligations, due diligence obligations and legal texts that define product- or market-based obligations.
ECCHR has published a strategic toolbox for intersectional justice between climate, biodiversity and human rights.
The toolbox aims to break down silos between climate, environmental and human rights litigation, as impacts are often socio-ecologically interdependent. It provides different approaches that can be taken to connect climate, biodiversity and human rights and pursue accountability for corporate impacts. To this end, the toolbox draws on existing frameworks such as Indigenous Peoples’rights, the rights to a healthy environment in Europe, the right to food and approaches addressing the financial enablers behind projects that give rise to adverse impacts.
Deforestation Legislation
Updates:
The Delegated Act adopted on 13 July contains an updated list of derivative products and confirms the removal of cattle hides, skins and leather as derivative products from the scope of the Regulation, a move that had been criticised by NGOs. In addition, soluble coffee, certain palm oil derivatives and frozen cattle tongues were added to the scope. These new products will only become subject to the Regulation’s obligations from 30 December 2027. The Commission also adopted an Implementing Act setting out the functioning of the Information System through which operators will be required to submit due diligence statements and simplified declarations
According to complaints submitted to the Tocantins State Public Prosecutor’s Office, the installation of a water pipeline to irrigate sugarcane plantations and supply water to the biofuel plant allegedly altered the natural flow of local waterways, destroyed springs and negatively affected fish breeding areas of the Rio Tocantins. A separate complaint filed in May 2026 also alleged that the company cleared approximately 5000hectares of the Cerrado biome to grow crops. The deforestation allegedly occurred without environmental studies proportionate to the scale of the intervention.
Notes/ Further Readings:
A analysis published in Science projects that the end of the Amazon Soy Moratorium in Brazil could lead to 1.4 million hectares of Amazon deforestation by 2036.
The Moratorium is a voluntary zero-deforestation pact under which soy traders agreed not to source or finance soy grown on Amazon land deforested after July 2008. While it did not completely prevent deforestation caused by soy farming, the Moratorium reduced deforestation by an estimated 35% across the wider regional landscape during its first decade of implementation. However, it has come under pressure after several states have passed laws that strip tax incentives from companies that adhere to the Moratorium. Such laws have been enacted in Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Tocantins and Maranhão, while Pará and Goiás have similar bills pending. Against this backdrop, participating companies and the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) withdrew from the Moratorium.
The authors warn that, as a consequence, an additional 1.4 million hectares could be deforested by 2036. They also warn that a further 9.1 million hectares suitable for soy could legally be deforested and that 28.7 million hectares of unallocated public forest are at risk of land grabbing and deforestation.
Forced Labour Legislation
Updates:
The government has issued a Notification amending the existing Foreign Trade Policy to prohibit the import of goods produced or manufactured wholly or in part through the use of forced labour. The instrument will allow the government to ban certain goods following investigations by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). While the instrument therefore does not impose an immediate ban on specific product categories from any country, the approach will be more targeted. Nonetheless, experts agree that this is a significant policy shift which creates a framework for future enforcement.
India is not the only country moving swiftly to strengthen its forced labour regulations in recent weeks in the wake of the USTR Section 301 investigations and proposed tariffs on US trading partners. The Sri Lankan government has also published an immediate prohibition on the import of any goods wholly or partially produced using forced labour. Importers will now have to provide documentation to the Director General of Customs certifying that their goods were not produced using forced labour. The government also announced that it would strengthen its customs screening regime in this context.
In Australia, the government has announced that it will take steps to strengthen the country’s existing laws on modern slavery. The proposed changes would introduce a new criminal offence for companies with an annual consolidated revenue exceeding AUD 100 million that fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. Companies would have a defence if they could demonstrate that they had taken reasonable steps to prevent it. The government also intends to introduce civil penalties and enforcement powers for non-compliance with existing obligations under the Modern Slavery Act. The initiative builds on the existing law, which has largely proved to be ineffective; while it has increased modern slavery statements, there is little evidence that its introduction has led to meaningful change for people experiencing modern slavery.
Further Readings:
The authors, former US Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Kelly Fay Rodríguez and former lead negotiator for the EUFLR Samira Rafaela, highlight the evidentiary burden as one of the most significant differences between EUFLR and USCBP. In the US, evidence amounting to “reasonable suspicion” that goods were produced using forced labour can trigger an investigation by US Customs and Border Protection. Where a Withhold Release Order is issued, the burden falls on importers to demonstrate that forced labour was not involved in the production of the goods. By contract, EU Competent Authorities will require a “substantiated concern” of forced labour before initiating an investigation, placing greater evidentiary burden on civil society actors and competent authorities and creating a significantly higher threshold for investigations. The authors also flag that neither framework meaningfully centres workers and trade unions s in prevention and remediation processes, among other areas for improvement.
❕ Disclaimer: This newsletter is for general informational purposes only. It does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice.