Odpovědnost podniků za porušování základních lidských práv v dodavatelských řetězcích v mezinárodním právu soukromém
Corporate Liability for Violations of Fundamental Human Rights in Supply Chains in Private International Law

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the issue of corporate liability for violations of fundamental human rights in supply chains. It analyzes this issue through the lens of Private International Law. This article addresses cases where the protected legal goods of individuals are infringed on in specific relation to countries of the Global South. These infringements occur in the sphere of suppliers of European companies or their subsidiaries. Because of the lack of access to justice in countries of the Global South, claimants take their claims against parent companies or major buyers with seats in the EU to the courts of its member states. This constitutes the international element of the tackled issue and therefore the interest of the legal field of Private International Law is given. Determining international jurisdiction and applicable law is the focus of this article. This article aims to examine these rules from the legal field of Private International Law. Based on an analysis of the Brussels Ibis Regulation, it was concluded that establishing international jurisdiction does not present a challenge for claimants in the case of companies with seats in the EU. In contrast, the situation is reversed in relation to non-EU companies. Analysis of the Rome II Regulation showed that the applicable law would typically be the law of non-EU countries. Although the applicable law will typically be the law of the countries of the Global South, this will not necessarily mean that the claimants will be unsuccessful in the litigation and vice versa. The issue is topical since the Czech legislature is now facing the challenge of implementing Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on corporate sustainability due diligence, known by the acronym CS3D, to the Czech legal system. Although the CS3D remains in force and has not yet been transposed into the national laws of the Member States, it has already been amended by Directive (EU) 2026/470 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 2026, adopted as part of the so-called Omnibus Package on Sustainability. Among other things, this Directive abolished the EU-wide civil liability regime laid down in the CS3D without replacing it, leaving the question of civil liability to the individual Member States. This policy shift will be examined in this article.

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