ARTICLES AND PRESENTATIONS

The US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, WHO, PAHO, the UNHRC and the Cuban Mais Medicos Program

The US Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and the current litigation of trafficked Cuban physicians against the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a subsidiary of a United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), under the TVPRA and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) hopefully will gain public attention and illuminate the suffering and abuse the TVPRA is designed to address and instigate a public discussion regarding the practice of international organizations such as WHO and PAHO to facilitate international human trafficking. Read more.....

 

The German government issued its first Corporate Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Gesetz ueber die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten, LkSG) on July 16, 2021. 

The Act requires all German and foreign companies with at least 3,000 employees and a main office, administrative office, registered office or branch office in Germany to establish and monitor due diligence in their supply chains to prevent forced labor, child labor, modern slavery, trafficking, financing of violent conflicts and destruction of the environment. Occupational safety and safety from abusive private or public forces are to be ascertained. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2023. As of January 1, 2024 companies with at least 1,000 employees will also be subject to the Act. Compliance duties are: reporting, establishing minimum standards for due diligence, monitoring, risk management/risk analysis, preventive measures, complaint mechanisms and compliance process documentation. Penalties for violations of the Act are: Monetary fines imposed in administrative proceedings by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (FOEEC) and/or exclusion from public procurement.  

 

 

“A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations”, 2020“Companies and Human Rights.

A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations” was authored in 2020 following the German government’s issuance of the “National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) in 2016. This comprehensive international study examines a selection of supply chain due diligence laws in the U.S.A., Australia, EU, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Austria to advance corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Germany and to eventually pass a German supply chain law.

Authored by Robert Grabosch, LL.M. (Cape Town), Schweizer Legal, Berlin, Germany.

Translation from German into English by Anna Engelhard-Barfield, J.D. (WFU).  Read more..

 

The German government issued its first Corporate Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Gesetz ueber die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten, LkSG) on July 16, 2021. 

The Act requires all German and foreign companies with at least 3,000 employees and a main office, administrative office, registered office or branch office in Germany to establish and monitor due diligence in their supply chains to prevent forced labor, child labor, modern slavery, trafficking, financing of violent conflicts and destruction of the environment. Occupational safety and safety from abusive private or public forces are to be ascertained. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2023. As of January 1, 2024 companies with at least 1,000 employees will also be subject to the Act. Compliance duties are: reporting, establishing minimum standards for due diligence, monitoring, risk management/risk analysis, preventive measures, complaint mechanisms and compliance process documentation. Penalties for violations of the Act are: Monetary fines imposed in administrative proceedings by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (FOEEC) and/or exclusion from public procurement.  

 

 

“A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations”, 2020“Companies and Human Rights.

A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations” was authored in 2020 following the German government’s issuance of the “National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) in 2016. This comprehensive international study examines a selection of supply chain due diligence laws in the U.S.A., Australia, EU, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Austria to advance corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Germany and to eventually pass a German supply chain law.

Authored by Robert Grabosch, LL.M. (Cape Town), Schweizer Legal, Berlin, Germany.

Translation from German into English by Anna Engelhard-Barfield, J.D. (WFU).  Read more..

 

The German government issued its first Corporate Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Gesetz ueber die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten in Lieferketten, LkSG) on July 16, 2021. 

The Act requires all German and foreign companies with at least 3,000 employees and a main office, administrative office, registered office or branch office in Germany to establish and monitor due diligence in their supply chains to prevent forced labor, child labor, modern slavery, trafficking, financing of violent conflicts and destruction of the environment. Occupational safety and safety from abusive private or public forces are to be ascertained. The Act takes effect on January 1, 2023. As of January 1, 2024 companies with at least 1,000 employees will also be subject to the Act. Compliance duties are: reporting, establishing minimum standards for due diligence, monitoring, risk management/risk analysis, preventive measures, complaint mechanisms and compliance process documentation. Penalties for violations of the Act are: Monetary fines imposed in administrative proceedings by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (FOEEC) and/or exclusion from public procurement.  

 

 

“A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations”, 2020“Companies and Human Rights.

A Global Comparison of Legal Due Diligence Obligations” was authored in 2020 following the German government’s issuance of the “National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) in 2016. This comprehensive international study examines a selection of supply chain due diligence laws in the U.S.A., Australia, EU, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Austria to advance corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Germany and to eventually pass a German supply chain law.

Authored by Robert Grabosch, LL.M. (Cape Town), Schweizer Legal, Berlin, Germany.

Translation from German into English by Anna Engelhard-Barfield, J.D. (WFU).  Read more..

 

The US Trafficking Victims Protection Act and US and recent U.S. class-action litigation filed by DRC child labor victims against Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla.

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (“TVPA”) 1 was last amended on January 3, 2018 by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017 (“TVPRA”). 2 The “Trafficking in Persons Reports” for 2018 and 2019, issued by the US Secretary of State.....Read More

 

Use of ADR in commercial disputes, a quiet revolution?

American Bar Association, Section of International Law,2013 Europe Committee Newsletter, Issue #7

Criticism of commercial arbitration has increasingly grown due to long cycle time/duration and high costs. Read More...

 

German requirements for Commercial Litigation Depositions

American Bar Association, Section of International Law,2013 Europe Committee Newsletter, Issue #7

Taking depositions of witnesses in Europe is quite different  from  taking depositions  in the U.S.   The Hague Evidence Convention, which applies to the taking of depositions in most European countries, imposes restrictions on where depositions can take place, and whether a foreign  court   will  be  involved.  Read more..

 

 

 

Notaries in Germany 

American Bar Association, Section of International Law,2013 Europe Committee Newsletter, Issue #4

German notaries, Notar (m) and Notarin (f), are highly regarded in Germany.  They serve a public function as independent and neutral officers of the court system and a private function as impartial drafter of various agreements and testaments.  Read more..

 

 

Changes in European Banking Regulations

American Bar Association, Section of International Law, 2013 Europe Committee Newsletter, Issue #3

Conservative and liberal forces are calling for "new forms of democracy" to set an end to governments and politicians held hostage by banks and markets.  Currently, bank debts are nearly three times greater than national debts.   Read More...

 

ESM and the Fiscal Pact

American Bar Association, Section of International Law,2012 Europe Committee Newsletter, Issue #1

This preliminary decision does not give any final answers, and while celebrated by Chancellor Merkel, Finance Minister Schäuble and the majority of the German parties as a positive step towards "more Europe", German economists and intellectuals have critcized the decision.  Read more..

 

 

Presentations

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Intersection of Civil Law and Common Law Deposition Styles in Cross-Border Matters

A Presentation to ABA-SIL 2014 Spring Meeting, New York, NY

 

Civil and Criminal Compliance in Germany post-UK BriberyAct

A Presentation to Foreign Attorneys Association, Berlin, February 22, 2012