Since the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in January 2021, there has been heightened attention to the vulnerabilities in the rare earth element (REE) supply chains. Section 817, in particular, represents one of the more decisive policy moves aimed at fortifying the United States’ position in securing these critical inputs. The provision […]
The year 2022 marked a significant turning point in the enforcement of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) provisions under the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive of 2019. For beverage manufacturers, the shift was more than just regulatory noise—it forced a deeper reckoning with supply chain transparency and accountability. Producers of plastic beverage containers, among others, now carry […]
The passage of Canada’s Digital Charter Implementation Act, better known as Bill C-27, in November 2022 has stirred fresh debate among logistics professionals, legal experts, and policymakers alike. Its implications for supply-chain data privacy are only beginning to be fully digested. At its core, the legislation aims to modernize privacy law, introducing stricter standards for […]
The issue of e-waste, though hardly new, has in recent years grown into something of an unavoidable topic within both regulatory and corporate circles in Japan. The 2020 Act on Promotion of Resource Recycling was designed with a clear objective: to move beyond scattered initiatives and impose a coherent framework that would drive transparency and […]
By the close of 2022, the first compliance reports under the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act had begun to trickle in, offering a preliminary glimpse into how importers—particularly in the apparel and textile sectors—are responding to one of the most stringent supply chain due-diligence mandates in recent memory. The UFLPA, which came into force […]
With the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, or LkSG) set to take effect in January 2023, the final implementing regulations released in December 2022 offer long-awaited clarity for firms grappling with compliance preparations. These rules, issued after months of consultation and revision, provide more precise direction on risk-assessment thresholds, reporting requirements, and documentation […]
The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) draft, which underwent public consultation during the first half of 2022, has attracted widespread attention across industries, investor circles, and civil society groups. The feedback collated and analyzed by mid-2022 presents, in some ways, a surprisingly coherent set of demands, though naturally the nuances are where things get […]
When Canada’s Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business and the wider federal supplier diversity framework incorporated enforcement of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) reporting requirements in 2022, it represented a quiet but significant shift in the landscape of supply-chain accountability. These principles, adopted back in 2017 and often seen as aspirational guidelines, took on a more […]
The Biden Administration’s Executive Order 14017, issued in February 2021, came at a moment of acute concern over the resilience of the United States’ semiconductor supply chain. It was not just a reaction to the visible disruptions that dogged the auto sector, consumer electronics, and even defense contractors as the pandemic rippled through global manufacturing. […]
The EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), in force since 2013, has been something of a slow-burn regulatory force. For much of its early existence, companies affected by it—large public-interest entities mainly—treated the obligation as a disclosure exercise that could be satisfied by assembling environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information in a fairly general way. There […]
Australia’s National Plastics Plan, first introduced in 2021, has always had an ambitious edge, though some would argue its ambition has at times outpaced the practical tools available to those on the front lines of implementation. The 2022 open-data pilot, launched quietly but with considerable significance, marked the government’s first real push to operationalize transparency […]
The 2021 amendments to the US Tariff Act didn’t exactly make headlines the way that sweeping trade agreements or high-profile tariff battles do. Yet, for economists, policymakers, and—critically—supply chain professionals, these changes have quietly reshaped how firms are expected to document and disclose the knock-on effects of Section 301 tariffs. The amendments introduced a novel […]
The 2021 enforcement report on the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), published eight years after the regulation’s entry into force, offers a telling snapshot of both progress and persistent gaps in Europe’s efforts to curb illegal timber trade. The EUTR, designed to prevent illegally harvested timber and timber products from entering the EU market, was lauded […]
Canada’s Bill C-9, enacted in June 2018, quietly but decisively reshaped how the country approaches labour mobility, particularly in relation to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program. It’s a piece of legislation that, while perhaps lacking the headline-grabbing profile of more contentious policy changes, has had a deep impact on the agricultural and technology sectors. […]
In February 2022, Executive Order 14067 was signed, marking a significant pivot in how the United States government approaches digital assets and the ecosystems that underpin them. Much of the immediate media focus fell, understandably, on its implications for consumer protection, financial stability, and the potential development of a central bank digital currency. But tucked […]
The European Union’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, which came into force in January 2021, was already considered by many to be a landmark in the global effort to reduce the trade in minerals that fund violence and human rights abuses. But as with so many regulatory frameworks, the first year of implementation revealed gaps—practical ambiguities that […]