Article on the regulation of corporate human rights statements and reportingDomestic regulation of company statements has significance to the increasing obligations on businesses to report publicly on human rights. The United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and subsequent developments, require public reporting on human rights in general or limited to specific areas like slavery or conflict minerals. The resultant reporting and statements present little risk of liability through existing international mechanisms. However there is considerable exposure under domestic regulation of misleading statements (regulation that was not designed with mandatory human rights reporting in mind). This article examines these domestic laws and the balance between mandatory reporting and liability for any such reports.
[This article first appeared in the September 2017 issue of the Newsletter of the Human Rights Law Committee of the Public and Professional Interest Division of the International Bar Association (Vol 1, Issue I), and is reproduced by kind permission of the International Bar Association, London, UK. © International Bar Association]