March 2024

The Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains, also known as the Supply Chain Act, has been in force in Germany since 1 January 2023. The Supply Chain Act aims to ensure better protection of human rights and the environment worldwide. 

Currently, with stricter provisions as of 1 January 2024, the law requires companies with at least 1,000 employees to respect human rights worldwide by implementing due diligence obligations. These obligations apply not only to the company's own business activities but also to its business relationships. Risks in the supply chain should be recognised and human rights violations avoided.

The law has already been passed in Germany and is currently being implemented. In March 2024, the EU countries were also able to agree on a European supply chain law. While the current European version of the supply chain law has many similarities to the German law, it also has some additional regulations. For example, the European Supply Chain Act requires companies to align their actions and strategy with the Paris Agreement on climate change, which gives climate protection in the European version a greater weighting than the German Supply Chain Act does.

Although the law does not impose an obligation on companies the size of Content5, we are fundamentally in favour of efforts to achieve a globally sustainable economy. Even without being legally required, we believe it is our social responsibility to act in a way that respects human rights and the climate, both in our business and internally. We emphasise this objective with our common good accounting. Here, we continuously address the aspects of human dignity, solidarity & justice, ecological sustainability and transparency & co-determination and also take these into account for our supply chains.