Conference on Corporate Responsibility and Due Diligence | December 10

The Colloquium "Duty of diligence of companies and corporate responsibility" will be held on December 10, starting at 9:30 am, in the FDUC auditorium, but also available online, with mandatory registration.

The event is part of a new research area of the University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility: between recommendations and the law". The program can be consulted here.

A legislative initiative is underway at the European Union level to establish a duty of care for companies and corporate responsibility. The text approved by the European Parliament last March 10, 2021, recommends the elaboration of a Directive on the subject, and the Resolution is available online.

The aim is to ensure that companies comply with their duty to respect human rights, the environment and good governance, both directly and in their value chains. Under the terms of this proposal, a due diligence strategy will have to be published by companies and communicated to key stakeholders (Art. 6). There will be national authorities competent to supervise the application of these rules (art. 12). And in the case of non-compliance, it is foreseen that sanctions may be imposed by the member-states (art. 18), as well as the possibility of companies being held civilly liable for damages caused (art. 19).

The International Colloquium "Corporate Duty of Care and Corporate Liability" will analyze and discuss the paths that seem to be taken.