As part of sustainable horticulture export business development, Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) in collaboration with the German Embassy in Addis Ababa organized a briefing session on the due diligence of compliance requirements to penetrate Germany export market.
The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (SCDDA) comes into force on 1 January 2023 and the law applies to organizations in Germany with more than 3,000 employees. From 2024 onwards, organizations with more than 1,000 employees will need to comply with the SCDDA.
In 2016, the German government launched its National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights finding only one-fifth of organizations with more than 500 employees met human rights due diligence obligations.
The SCDDA is intended to raise those numbers and prevent human and environmental rights violations. There is an extraterritorial aspect of the law that accounts for infringements in the domestic and international markets.
On the briefing session Mrs. Susanne Duiring, the counsellor for social affairs in German Embassy Addis Ababa, presented the new regulation of Germany in the global value chain in-line with the horticulture produce.
The obligatory core elements in the establishment of a risk management system to identify, prevent, and minimize the risks of human rights violations and damage to the environment discussed at length with the farm representatives and the way forward to document and provide evidence of measures and processes to avoid sanctions.
The participants stated that most of EHPEA member farms fulfill the standards as they have been working the past two decades on the export business, where the association also support on the capacity building of members having its own standards and certifications.
The Association Executive director Mr. Tewodros Zewdie stated that, as Germany is one of the main horticulture product export destinations for Ethiopia, it will continue its relentless effort to elevate the capacity of members to comply with the international standards.
