The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

Leonard Best has 15 years of interdisciplinary and intercultural experience in stakeholder management and sustainability. Currently, he is the Content Lead for Human Rights in Procurement at Bayer, ensuring ethical supply chain practices. Previously, he led carbon reduction and supplier engagement initiatives as a PRO Sustainability Business Partner. Leonard holds an University Diploma Degree in Economics, Spanish and Latin American History from the University of Cologne, Germany.

Ludovica Chiussi Curzi (PhD) is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Bologna, Department of Legal Studies, and Lead Trainer of the Course “Human Rights and the Environment” at the Geneva Academy for International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She has been Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (UK), at the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment, Columbia University (New York) and at Sciences Po Law School (Paris). Ludovica is Expert to the Office of the State Attorney of the Republic of Italy in cases before the European Court of Human Rights, as well as in Investor-State arbitration. She regularly works as counsel before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.

Leonie Evans, German attorney since 2012, is a Partner at Meisterernst Rechtsanwälte, a Munich based mid-size law firm. Working for national and international businesses with a focus on consumer goods and ESG matters, she advises on risk management in the value chain and all issues on national and international sustainability legislation. She is an active member of the Committee for Sustainability of Pharma Deutschland, ESG working group of BVMed and Sustainability work group of Food Federation Germany.

Johannes Frank is a partner at Schoenherr Vienna law firm in Austria. He specialises in complex national and cross-border merger control cases, antitrust proceedings and compliance, internal investigations and foreign direct investment cases. He also focuses on the impact of supply chain compliance laws on Austrian companies and companies along the value chains.

Franziska Humbert studied law in Heidelberg, London, Bern and Berlin. She did her PhD at the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern on the topic ‘The Challenge of Child Labour in International Law’ and her post-doctoral thesis in 2021 on the topic of world trade and constitutionalism in international law. From 2001 to 2003, she had been working in a law firm in the field of labour, media and competition law. Since 2004, she has been working for the international non-governmental organisation Oxfam in the field of business and human rights, including on legislation such as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the EUCSDDD. She is Head of Just Economies in Oxfam Germany. An increasing focus of her work is also conducting strategic litigation, such as filing complaints for partner organisations from the Global South. She conducts research on human rights in value chains, publishes studies and works with business and political decision-makers. She has taught international economic law at the University of Zurich and has held lectures on business and human rights at the University of Lüneburg and the University of Halle.

Harald Küppers is a political scientist and has worked for many years for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and its predecessor organisation, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). He is currently the Programme Manager of the ‘Sector Dialogues Business and Human Rights’. Sector dialogues bring together business, civil society, the social partners and policymakers to ensure fairness in global supply and value chains. They are based on the National Action Plan (NAP), which implements the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and can help fulfil the requirements of the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) and the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Michael Lendle, PhD, is a board member of AFC Consulting Group in Germany and advises manufacturers and retailers, state and federal government agencies, and trade associations on compliance management, sustainability strategies, and stakeholder communications.

Rosalynn Lützenkirchen is an attorney at the law firm Meisterernst Rechtsanwälte in Munich. She specialises in advising national and international companies on all aspects of German and European consumer goods law. As a certified human rights officer, she also advises companies on the implementation of and compliance with their human rights and environmental due diligence obligations throughout their entire supply chain.

Andreas Meisterernst, Meisterernst Rechtsanwälte (law firm), Honorary Professor at the TUM School of Life Sciences, primarily advises and represents national and international companies from the consumer goods industry with regard to the entire regulatory framework. He advises on internal risk management and corporate social responsibility in the value chain including EU and national sustainability legislation and stakeholder issues.

Franziska Oehm. LL.D, is a fully qualified lawyer and has been a research associate at the German Institute for Human Rights since 2023. Her work at the Institute focuses on business and human rights, especially human rights due diligence regulations, as well as access to justice for rightsholders. As the German coordination office, she supports the implementation and monitoring of the company-wide complaints mechanism for the automotive industry in Mexico. Previously, she published primarily on international criminal law and corporate liability for human rights violations and conducted research in California, Colombia and Cambodia.

Philipp Schaber completed his studies at University of Hohenheim, with a strong focus on supply chain management and ESG. As a consultant at AFC Risk & Crisis Consult in Germany, he advises clients from industry and retail primarily on the implementation of ESG compliance, complaints management and supply chain risk management. He also regularly holds seminars and workshops in cooperation with associations.

Elena Todorova is a Counsel at Schoenherr Attorneys at Law in Sophie, Bulgaria, specialising in Healthcare and Life Sciences and navigating the maze of EU and Bulgarian legislation. She focuses on the regulatory areas of the food and pharma supply chains and waste management.

Stephan Tromp has over 25 years of experience as a company managing director and association managing director. He is Deputy Managing Director of the German Retail Association (HDE) and at the same time Managing Director of the association subsidiaries HDE Trade Services and IFS Management. He understands himself both in political processes and in the economic management of companies. In the German Retail Association, he is responsible for the cross-cutting topic of digitization. Another focus of his work is the development and management of internationally oriented services, especially in the field of quality assurance. Since 2002, for example, he has established the worldwide auditing standard IFS for trade and industry for supplier evaluation, which is applied worldwide. His thematic focus is on business development and IT/digitisation. His activities are always internationally oriented. Stephan Tromp has an economics diploma, acquired from the Berlin School of Economics. His native language is German, and he is also fluent in English and Dutch. Until 2006 he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives.

Theresa Usler already specialized in sustainability management during her studies in Münster (M. Sc.). She is a Senior Consultant at AFC Risk & Crisis Consult in Germany and advises companies from industry and commerce in the areas of risk and crisis management as well as sustainability communication.

Dominic Watkins is a Partner at DWF Law in London. He is the Head of Consumer sector which delivers services to those retailing and selling food by all channels including hospitality. Dominic's day-to-day practice focuses on regulatory compliance. He helps clients launch and maintain products on markets around the world. He has counselled clients on all of the significant crisis impacting the sector and has been a leading commentator on issues like obesity and HFSS, food safety and the tsunami of regulation impacting the sector. In addition to this has he has a fast growing practice supporting clients on their ever growing sustainability obligations, stemming from both the EU and other locations around the world. Dominic's clients include the UK's leading grocery retailers; globally recognised e-com retailers and marketplaces as well as the household name brands sold through those channels.

Gregor Wolf holds a master’s degrees in economics and Japanese Studies and studied in Berlin and Tokyo. He started his career with the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) in Berlin and is now the Director General of the Wholesale and Foreign Trade Association Hamburg (WGA). He closely followed and engaged also in the process of developing the German German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG).

Marjan de Bock-Smit is a risk management professional and has always been at the forefront of developments in the fast-changing international consumer goods markets. In 1993, she founded Précon Food Safety Systems, that became market leader in the implementation of risk management systems (HACCP) for the food and retail sector. Her next company was ISACert, an accredited Certification Body with 300 auditors, represented in 16 countries, including China. She supported the development of several audit standards and started specialising in social compliance and human rights. With her knowledge and insights of international supply chain practices, Marjan founded Supply Chain Information Management (SIM) in 2009 to help retailers and brands creating transparency in their supply chains. In 2020 she co-founded ImpactBuying, developing consultancy and training products for helping clients to move from compliancy towards ensuring Proven Positive Impact. In 2021, the product portfolio of SIM and ImpactBuying merged into ImpactBuying bv. Marjan is a dedicated social entrepreneur, determined to make a difference.