Please join us for the next installment of the Morgan Lewis Automotive Hour Webinar series, focused on the impacts of human rights and supply chain issues on the automotive industry.
In this Automotive Hour, partners Carl A. Valenstein and Amanda B. Robinson and Government Affairs Manager David B. Mendelsohn will review how the supply chain supporting the automotive industry has become the target of human rights activists and the subject of US congressional inquiries.
Our panelists will discuss global supply chain risks and investigation and enforcement activity, examining the various allegations and inquiries on this topic. The program will also cover the lessons learned from other industries that have navigated these challenges and best practices to prepare and mitigate the impact of these real and evolving threats.
Key Takeaways
- Auto manufacturers, like many other global manufacturers, face a host of challenges related to their supply chains, with some of the most difficult and sensitive ones relating to human rights violations. There are a myriad of overlapping and sometimes conflicting regulatory regimes, both nationally and internationally, that touch on every aspect of the complex and global automotive supply chain.
- Failure to comply with these varied laws (or even allegations of such noncompliance) can result in increased governmental oversight and action, from detention of products at the border to fines and outright bans on importation, in addition to adverse consumer action in the form of boycotts and other demonstrations that could cause reputational damage.
- This area is also one in which there is common interest by the US Congress in taking affirmative action to address supply chain concerns. There is currently bipartisan support, and as such supply chains, including ones relating to human rights and trade practices, will continue to be a major focus of regulatory enforcement efforts for the foreseeable future.
- China presents a dynamic in which automakers must balance supply chain integrity with market access, which will be critically important for non-Chinese automakers to achieve growth and remain viable players, including in the increasingly vital electric vehicle space.
- Given the complexity of operating between the diverging interests of the United States and China, companies’ responses to labor and human rights–focused inquiries must remain deliberate and fact-based.