How Do Laws Regulating Global Trade Actually Work?
Companies today have a responsibility to ensure their production does not violate human rights or harm the environment. These regulations, known as "due diligence laws," require businesses to assess risks in their supply chains. But do companies actually follow these rules? How do governments and other actors enforce them? And could they be made more effective? A new political science research project explores these questions.
Photo: Unsplash/Chris Linnett
PUBLISHED: June 9, 2025
How Do Laws Regulating Global Trade Actually Work? (full length article in Swedish)
"Many of the countries where parts of these products are manufactured often have weak regulations and institutions. This increases the risk of human rights violations or significant environmental damage when importing products from these regions.
Maria-Therese Gustafsson. Foto: Rickard Kilström
It’s a complex issue—take car manufacturers, for example, who import minerals and metals that may have been processed in China," SCGG-affiliated Associate Professor Maria-Therese Gustafsson, Department of Political Science, told the Faculty of Social Sciences website on Monday.
She leads the research project "Corporate accountability in global supply chains?" alongside Almut Schilling-Vacaflor from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany.
Text by:
Elin Sahlin, Faculty of Social Sciences
Translated by:
Svante Emanuelli, SCGG/Dept. of Political Science
Last updated: 2026-04-16
Source: SCGG