Our Managing Partner Radivoje Petrikić was interviewed by Bloomberg Adria, about new ESG regulations in the European Union and the impact of their implementation on the business operations of companies in Serbia.
On 1 January 2023, the rules applicable to large companies in Germany will come into force and will introduce an obligation for those companies to analyse and monitor all companies in their supply chain with regard to their compliance with the regulations governing the matters of the environmental protection, human rights, socially responsible business operations and corporate governance (ESG). Such compliance monitoring will also apply to Serbian companies that are direct suppliers of large German companies.
Serbian companies, especially SMEs with significant operations in Germany, that are eager to keep their position in the supply chains of large German companies, will be facing serious compliance challenges. They need to start working on their ESG compliance as soon as possible, or they will lose their position in the supply chains of large German companies and/or be less appealing to large German companies.
The recently adopted Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive indicates that the ESG compliance requirements will soon expand to all EU companies. This is one more reason for companies in Serbia to immediately engage in the process of ESG implementation in order to remain integrated into the supply chains of EU companies and become more attractive as suppliers.
The whole interview (in Serbian) can be accessed here.
If you have any additional questions in this regard, please send us your query at: esg-belgrade@cms-rrh.com
