The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) has warned that European due-diligence requirements are raising costs for US dairy processors and farmers, DairyReporter reports.
The association wants the US government to keep pressing the European Commission to limit the «extraterritorial application» of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and related measures, and to secure an exemption for US companies.
The CSDDD sets mandatory rules for large companies to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse human-rights and environmental impacts across global value chains. US firms are affected when they supply multinational customers operating in Europe, since those customers’ compliance duties can mean extra audits, questionnaires and paperwork for suppliers.
In a recent letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative, IDFA said EU-based companies are increasingly imposing social audits and other due-diligence obligations on US firms that do not trade with the EU, as well as on global companies doing business with its US members.
IDFA also commissioned a legal analysis comparing US labour standards in dairy operations under federal and state law. It covered six areas of worker protection: child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, working conditions, occupational health and safety, and non-discrimination.
US law and international frameworks, it found, take different approaches. International standards in particular put more weight on documentation, stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms and supply chain monitoring, which US law does not require.
IDFA President and CEO Michael Dykes said the US dairy sector «strongly supports» protecting human and worker rights.
«But our trading partners should respect our regulatory system just as we respect theirs,» he said, adding that US companies should not have to duplicate or layer foreign requirements on top of laws they already follow just because those requirements travel through global supply chains.
Source: DairyReporter
