Supply chain due diligence laws and the audits behind them
Child labour, forced labour, modern slavery and human rights due diligence appear on 41 recent papers, with 13 in the last quarter against about 9 per quarter before, and 12 of them carry a supply-chain or supplier keyword. Germany's supply chain law, the EU directive and import bans on forced-labour goods now require firms to check suppliers. Do the checks find anything, and do suppliers change?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 41 papers carry a due-diligence, modern-slavery, forced-labour, human-rights or child-labour keyword (19 in economics journals, 6 in management, 6 in AI, 5 in finance): "child labor" on 13, "human rights" on 7, "modern slavery" on 6, "forced labor" on 5, "human rights due diligence" on 3. The quarter to September 2026 had 13 such papers against about 9 per quarter earlier.
Questions
- Do social audits required by the laws detect forced labour, or do they certify what suppliers show on audit day?
- After import bans on goods from regions with forced labour, did trade reroute through third countries, and did the targeted goods' prices rise?
- Do firms covered by the laws cut suppliers in high-risk countries, and what happens to the workers there?
Data that could help
Firms' due diligence reports, customs detention records under import bans, trade data by product and origin, and audit reports where available.
Next step
Compare US imports of cotton goods and solar components by origin before and after the 2022 forced-labour import ban, and look for rerouting.