Companies increasingly organise their production and production processes globally. That process of breaking up value chains into smaller parts located worldwide results in so-called global value chains (GVCs). The link between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the EU’s external action, (including its trade policy) is well-established. The EU has been integrating labour standards, environmental and human rights obligations into its trade agreements for over a decade. Under the auspices of the Green Deal, the EU has supplemented its regulatory approach with autonomous rules regulating access to the internal market.

These autonomous instruments - from a ban on products made from forced labour, to rules on corporate sustainability due diligence, complement existing instruments in the EU’s toolkit and address practices along global value chains connected to the EU.

In addition to rolling updates on developments in this field (see the posts), you will find static resources including links to the legislation and primers.