Sustainability Clauses in an unsustainable Contract Law?
-
Vibe Ulfbeck
and
Ole Hansen
Abstract
Companies in global value chains respond to the general sustainability agenda in society by inserting sustainability clauses into their contracts and it has been argued that there is a need to develop general contract law (default contract law rules) in order for it to be able to respond to this sustainability agenda. This article firstly examines the basis for this view and three specific areas of interest in this regard. Secondly, it draws attention to the internal tensions that will be created in the chain by on the one hand pursuing sustainability goals, external to the interests of the contracting parties, and on the other hand a consequential need to protect the supplier as the weaker party in the chain.
Résumé
Les sociétés dans les chaînes de valeur globales répondent à l’ambition sociale de développement durable en insérant des clauses de développement durable dans leurs contrats et il a été soutenu qu’il y avait besoin de développer un nouveau droit des contrats général (règles de droit des contrats par défaut) afin que celui-ci puisse être en mesure de répondre à cette ambition. Cet article examine tout d’abord ce sur quoi cet avis se fonde ainsi que trois domaines spécifiques dignes d’intérêt à cet égard. Dans un second temps, il souligne les tensions internes qui seront créées dans la chaine par, d’un côté, la poursuite d’objectifs de développement durable externes aux intérêts des parties et d’un autre côté le besoin qui en découle de protéger le fournisseur en tant que partie faible de la chaîne.
Zusammenfassung
Unternehmen in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten reagieren auf gesellschaftsweit steigende Anforderungen der Nachhaltigkeit durch die Einbeziehung von Nachhaltigkeitsklauseln in ihre Lieferverträgen. Einem gängigen Argument zufolge bedarf es spezifischer Reformen im allgemeinen (dispositiven) Vertragsrecht, um diesen Nachhaltigkeitsbelangen zur Durchsetzung zu verhelfen. Dieser Beitrag untersucht zunächst die Hintergründe dieses Arguments und drei hierfür besonders relevante Aspekte. Im Anschluss beleuchtet er die inneren Spannungen, die innerhalb der Kette auftreten zwischen den auf dritte Parteien ausgerichteten Nachhaltigkeitszielen und dem Schutz des Zulieferers als üblicherweise schwächerer Vertragspartei.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Reimagining Contract in a World of Global Value Chains
- Is ‘Global Value Chain’ a Legal Concept?
- Towards a Genealogy and Typology of Governance Through Contract Beyond Privity
- Regulating Contracting in Global Value Chains. Institutional Alternatives and their Implications for Transnational Contract Law
- Actor-Network Theory Contract Theory
- The Invisible Networks of Global Production: Re-Imagining the Global Value Chain in Legal Research
- An Anthropological Reimagining of Contract in Global Value Chains: The Governance of Corporate-community Relations in the Colombian Mining Sector
- Hermeneutical Injustice, Contract Law, and Global Value Chains
- Reimagining the Unimaginable: Law and the Ongoing Transformation of Global Value Chains into Integrated Legal Entities
- Sustainability Clauses in an unsustainable Contract Law?
- EU Legislation
- European Union Legislation and Actions
- EU Case Law
- European Union Litigation
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Reimagining Contract in a World of Global Value Chains
- Is ‘Global Value Chain’ a Legal Concept?
- Towards a Genealogy and Typology of Governance Through Contract Beyond Privity
- Regulating Contracting in Global Value Chains. Institutional Alternatives and their Implications for Transnational Contract Law
- Actor-Network Theory Contract Theory
- The Invisible Networks of Global Production: Re-Imagining the Global Value Chain in Legal Research
- An Anthropological Reimagining of Contract in Global Value Chains: The Governance of Corporate-community Relations in the Colombian Mining Sector
- Hermeneutical Injustice, Contract Law, and Global Value Chains
- Reimagining the Unimaginable: Law and the Ongoing Transformation of Global Value Chains into Integrated Legal Entities
- Sustainability Clauses in an unsustainable Contract Law?
- EU Legislation
- European Union Legislation and Actions
- EU Case Law
- European Union Litigation
