GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Jan-Ove Becker and Lukas Heber, Littler
• in the event of non-payment of forced pay - ments, the breach will be publicly disclosed. 2.2.5 Indigenous Rights Legislation There are no national laws that explicitly refer to human rights of indigenous peoples in the context of business activities. Indigenous peo - ples are protected in the same way as all ethnic groupsin Germany (see the due diligence obli - gations mentioned-above under 2.2.2 Corpo- rate Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation – 2.2.4 Transparency and Reporting Require- ments ). However, Germany has ratified the ILO- Convention 169 (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention) from 1989, which is the only legally binding international treaty that comprehensively protects the rights of indigenous peoples. 2.2.6 Other Apart from the laws already mentioned (in par - ticular the LkSG), there are no other laws in Ger - many that explicitly refer to the topic of BHR. 2.2.7 Soft Law on Business and Human Rights In addition to statutory regulations and the German National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, numerous guidelines and princi - ples are also applied in Germany. Some exam - ples are listed below: • UN Global Compact – principles for global business in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment; • UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights – see 2.1 International ; • OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct – see 2.1 International ; • ISO 26000 – assistance for organisations in contributing to sustainable development including human rights;
• German Sustainability Code ( Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex ) – assistance in the sub - ject of reporting obligations; and • Berlin CSR Consensus ( Berliner CSR-Kons- ens ) – management and leadership principles that are necessary for responsible supply chain management. In its Sustainability Strategy, Germany has established a Sustainability Action Programme where the government has set binding targets for itself for complying with sustainability criteria in the procurement of textiles, information tech - nology and paper, as well as in services such as catering. As part of this, the Federal Government Guidelines for Sustainable Textile Procurement were drawn up. Further self-binding guidelines are in the process of being developed. 2.2.8 Regulatory Change As already mentioned above, Germany, as a member state of the EU, is subject to (ongo - ing) legislative developments and adjustments at EU level. Accordingly, there will be further EU- related changes to the legal situation in Germany in the near future. The most important of these regarding BHR are the obligations already men - tioned to implement the CSDDD and CSRD into national law. Particularly relevant at this time is the discus - sion on amending the CSDDD and the CSRD, even though the CSDDD has not even had to be implemented into national law yet. This so- called EU Omnibus Package provides, among other things, for various far-reaching simplifica - tions with regard to sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations. • The reporting obligation under the CSRD will only apply to large companies with more than 1,000 employees and a turnover of more than
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