Abstract
In this second part of the empirical analysis, Drahn tests the relevance of six factors for explaining the differences between the transposition outcomes that were put forward in the previous chapter. The first section provides the analytical background for the hypotheses testing, as it gives readers a brief overview of the political and administrative settings in which the transpositions took place. The second and third sections test the hypotheses formulated in Chap. 4 for the public procurement directives and the NFR-Directives respectively. The hypotheses cover factors known in transposition studies, such as the misfit between European and domestic rules. They also include policy specific determinants, such as the institutional setup of a political economy and the political salience in policy processes. The last section changes the perspective and explains the transposition processes in each country, thereby putting the results into the national policy-making context.
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Notes
- 1.
Until July 2016, the ministry was named Department for Business Innovation and Skills and was headed by Sajid Javid (Conservative Party).
- 2.
The public consultation on the transposition of the procurement directives took place between 5 November and 4 December 2015. The position papers and the outcomes of the consultation were not published and could therefore not be used for this analysis.
- 3.
Apart from passing the two-percent-threshold, it is also possible for parties to win seats directly in one of the ten constituencies, or by obtaining a critical number of votes in two of the three electoral provinces (Danish Parliament, 2011).
- 4.
At the time of writing, twelve parties have members in the Folketing.
- 5.
Apart from the 2004 public procurement directives, a number of EU legal documents also encourage the use of social criteria in public procurement (see Kahlenborn et al. 2011, p. 9f).
- 6.
As was mentioned in Chap. 4, Scotland has adopted separate laws to transpose the EU public procurement directives, which will not be considered in this study.
- 7.
In 2015 a second action plan was adopted to take into account the changes of the EU public procurement directives.
- 8.
Regions and municipalities are not bound by ILO Convention 94.
- 9.
Germany has not ratified the ILO Convention 94 on labour clauses in public contracts.
- 10.
Den Ansvarlige Indkøber (Responsible purchasing) can be assessed at: http://csr-indkob.dk/.
- 11.
The party’s minority government was tolerated by a far-right, a liberal, and a conservative party.
- 12.
Before the reform, relevant parts of procurement legislation were decided by committees, which were composed of state representatives and representatives of contractors. The procurement reform changed this and ‘elevated’ relevant procurement rules to the level of a legal decree (Rechtsverordnung). The only exception to this was the construction sector.
- 13.
Unlike the British government, the German government did not publish any responses to the public consultation, but only stakeholders’ position papers.
- 14.
The position papers that were found to comprehensively address human rights-related provisions were those from the German Corporate Accountability Network (CorA), the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), and the Federation of German Construction Industry.
- 15.
JORF n° 0074 du 27 mars 2016, texte n° 64, Avis relatif à la liste des dispositions internationales en matière de droit environnemental, social et du travail permettant de rejeter une offre comme anormalement basse en matière de marchés publics.
- 16.
The Worldwide governance indicators include 214 countries.
- 17.
To a large extent the information for this review stems from a 2011 report on the state of play in sustainability reporting that was produced for the European Commission (see Wensen et al., 2011).
- 18.
Section 414C of the 2006 UK Companies Act.
- 19.
Loi 2010-788, adopted on12 July 2010.
- 20.
Loi 2017-399 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d'ordre publiée au Journal Officiel du 28 mars 2017.
- 21.
See §§ 289 para 3, 315 para 1 (4), 340a para 1, 341a para 1 HGB, as altered by the 2004 reform of the German accounting law (Bilanzrechtsreformgesetz).
- 22.
More precisely, the definition of large joint stock companies following § 267 para. 3 HGB states that two out of three conditions have to be met to qualify as a large joint stock company: more than 250 employees, a balance sheet total of more than 19,250,000 €, and a total revenue of 38,500,000 €.
- 23.
Firms that have assets worth more than 19 million Euro or revenues of more than 38 million Euro.
- 24.
This requirement was not part of the Danish Financial Statements Act, but was implemented with executive orders from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.
- 25.
Some position papers only addressed environmental concerns. However, the concrete demands that were formulated addressed reporting obligations, such as scope or verification by independent auditors, which would also affect the human rights-related regulations.
- 26.
The 55 position papers were distributed as follows: 24 from business or industry representatives, 22 from NGOs and other civil society organisations, 6 from representatives of auditors and tax accountants, 2 from lawyers’ associations, and 1 from a labour union.
- 27.
The UK public consultation on the NFR-Directive was conducted between 16 February and 15 April 2016.
- 28.
The only reference to international frameworks was made in the impact assessment, which was published before the consultation process (UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2014). Here it was stated that NGOs active in the field of human rights will benefit from the option that firms can refer to international reporting frameworks.
- 29.
In an Email, an NGO representative described the transposition process of the public procurement directives as ‘rushed’.
- 30.
The breakdown between sectors of the 76 responses: 16 from civil society, 10 from companies, 2 from investors, 21 from representative bodies, 9 from consultancies, 9 from accountants, 6 from individuals and 2 from academics (Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2016).
- 31.
The British parliament already announced that the UK transposition laws of the public procurement directives and the NFR-directives will be transposed in UK law by means of the Great Repeal Bill (UK Parliament, 2017).
- 32.
LOI n° 2015-990 du 6 août 2015 pour la croissance, l'activité et l'égalité des chances économiques.
- 33.
The consultation took place between 23 June and 25 July 2016.
- 34.
The four options provided were: Option 1: all companies with a balance sheet above 20 million Euros and all PIEs with a total revenue of more than 40 million Euros; Option 2: all companies with a balance sheet of more than 100 million Euros, and all PIEs with a balance sheet between 20 million and 100 million and a total revenue between 40 million and 100 million Euros; Option 3: all companies with a balance sheet and entities that are subject to a simplified regime with a balance sheet of more than 20 million and a total revenue of more than 40 million Euros; Option 4: all companies with a balance sheet of more than 20 million Euros and a total revenue of more than 40 million Euros.
- 35.
The federal ministries of the interior and finance favoured the position of the CDU, the ministries of labour, economics and foreign affairs took the position of the SPD. The ministry of economics portrayed itself as the broker in between (Interview 6).
- 36.
The difference political salience also became evident during the research process. Ministry officials that worked on the public procurement directives showed a much larger willingness to speak openly about the political preferences of the actors involved than those officials tasked with the transposition of the NFR-Directive.
- 37.
The department that coordinated the transposition was Referat III A 3 (Rechnungslegung; Publizität; Recht der Abschlussprüfung) (Interview 13).
- 38.
The Danish government was reported to have sent the draft law to NGO representatives after a first draft law had been finalized. However, an NGO representative stated that the time provided to respond was very short and that the comments were thought to have had little effect (Interview 8).
- 39.
Den Ansvarlige Indkøber (Responsible purchasing) can be assessed at: http://csr-indkob.dk/.
- 40.
Due to this change, the new requirements applied to 1050 companies and not to 50 companies, as would have been the case if the scope had not been extended. However, it was determined that for those companies that fall under the extended scope, the new requirements will only take effect on 1 January 2018, while for those companies covered by the directive the requirement took effect on 1 January 2016.
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Drahn, P. (2020). Empirical Analysis II: Explanation of Transposition Variation. In: Adoption of EU Business and Human Rights Policy. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46935-1_6
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