Due Diligence in Global Supply Chains: The Troubled Journey of the EU Legislation and the Global Perspective
Global supply chains are undergoing a profound transformation. The traditional model, built around geographical fragmentation, functional specialization, and cost-efficiency outsourcing, is increasingly challenged by a new regulatory and technological environment shaped by resilience, accountability, and control. The evolution of supply chains in the European Union is driven by the intersection of two closely connected developments: the growing centrality of digital technologies and data value chains, and the emergence of mandatory sustainability due diligence obligations. Digitalization is not merely reshaping the organization of supply chains; it is also influencing the informational and contractual infrastructure through which due diligence can be implemented, monitored, and enforced.
Against this background, this Article offers three main contributions. First, it redefines the place of global supply chains within the EU regulatory agenda by showing how digital regulation and sustainability regulation increasingly rely on a common ex ante, risk-based logic. In this perspective, data flows, algorithmic systems, and compliance technologies become integral to the governance of supply chains, while sustainability due diligence extends the regulatory approach to human rights and environmental harms across chains of activities. Second, the Article examines the simplification turn introduced by the Omnibus I package. It argues that, while formally preserving the core architecture of the CS3D, the reform narrows the scope and intensity of due diligence obligations and reveals the tension between regulatory effectiveness and the political objective of reducing compliance and administrative burdens. Third, it shows that the effectiveness of due diligence ultimately depends on private law instruments and enforcement design. It analyzes how commercial contracts operationalize due diligence through cascading obligations, model clauses, monitoring duties, and remedial mechanisms, and how administrative and judicial enforcement interact in a complementary way to ensure prevention, correction, and compensation.
Recommended Citation: Fabrizio Cafaggi & Federico Pistelli, Due Diligence in Global Supply Chains: The Troubled Journey of the EU Legislation and the Global Perspective, 49 Fordham Int'l L.J. 579 (2026).