Regulatory Radar

In the United Kingdom, the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) legislation was passed requiring member states to introduce mandatory programs for energy audits of large enterprise companies every four years.

The European Union member states agreed to ban the chemical nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) from textile imports. This extends the current EU REACH Regulation ((EC) NO 1907/2006, Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), which bans NPE from all textiles manufactured regionally. The decision highlights a major push by the EU to regulate environmental pollutants as it pertains to all member states as whole.

Executive Order 13693, signed on March 19, 2015, sets ambitious environmental goals for federal government agencies by attempting to lower the governments’ greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent over the next decade. The mandates require each of the seven largest procuring agencies to develop and implement an annual Procurement Plan to Reduce Supply Chain Emissions that identifies at least five procurements to be implemented federal fiscal year 2016.

The United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 was passed in March of 2015. As of October 2015, all commercial organizations carrying on a business or part of a business in the United Kingdom (no matter where that organization was incorporated or formed) with annual turnover of £36 million pounds (approximately $56 million) and over, must provide a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for each financial year according to section 54 of the Act.

The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the distribution and labeling related to bioengineered foods (often referred to as genetically modified foods or GMOs). The Act allows the FDA to use authority to take enforcement action against false or misleading labels, such as food falsely labeled “GMO free”.

In late July 2015, Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced H.R. 3226, the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2015. The bill, if passed, would require companies to file annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing their efforts to identify and address specific human rights risks in their supply chains. The proposed federal legislation would apply to companies with annual worldwide gross receipts exceeding one hundred million dollars.

The Safe Harbor Decision, allowed American companies to self-certify (without providing binding evidence) that they complied with European privacy standards to legally receive exports of personal data from the EEA to the U.S.

The French Energy Transition Bill provides for a national low-carbon strategy, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent between 1990 and 2030 and by 75 percent between 1990 and 2050; to reduce final energy consumption by 50 percent by 2050 in relation to the 2012 benchmark, while aiming to achieve an intermediate target of 20 percent in 2030; and to reduce their final energy consumption of fossil fuels by 30 percent by 2030 in relation to the 2012 benchmark. The Bill also adds new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting obligations for institutional investors.

The Clean Water Act has been the federal government’s main law to address water pollution since 1972. Subsequent laws and amendments have modified it over the years. The most recent modification, the Clean Water Rule, intends to better define which waters are protected under the Act.

On Dec. 12, 2015, more than 190 world leaders reached a landmark climate accord. The accord was the result of the 21st United Nations Conference of Parties (COP21), which gathered in Paris with the ultimate aim of ensuring that temperatures don’t rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius, the temperature that scientists agree is the limit to preserving life on Earth as we know it.

On August 3, 2015, the White House released the final rules for the Clean Power Plan under the Clean Air Act, which requires a 32 percent reduction to the 2005 United States carbon dioxide emission levels by 2030.

Government officials in India gave approval in May of 2015 to a bill proposed in 2012 amending the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986. The 1986 Act prohibited the employment of children (14 years or younger) in 18 occupations and 65 processes deemed hazardous. It also regulated the working conditions of children in other occupations. The amendment would prohibit the employment of children under the age of 14 from any occupation except in family enterprises after school and during vacation or as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry provided that the education of the child is not affected.