In February 2022 the European Commission launched a proposal for an EU corporate sustainability due diligence directive (‘CSDDD proposal’). Companies will be mandated, under threat of sanctions, to monitor adverse impacts that may arise throughout their value chain from violations of a series of sustainability treaties: that is, treaties on human rights, labor and the environment. These…

Applying economic pressure to coerce another country into a particular course of action has been around for a while, as developing countries can attest. In recent years, though, economic coercion has also been increasingly used against developed countries. The EU has been the target of such unwelcome pressure from, among others, China, Russia and the United States.

International law has been front-page news in The Netherlands for the past weeks as the Dutch Parliament is debating whether or not to ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). The so-called Second Chamber (Chamber of Representatives) approved such ratification in February 2020 and the issue will be put to a…