Brands Forum 2025 - five key takeaways

At our recent Brands Forum, Giles Crown explored the critical supply chain issues that every business needs to navigate. 

What is clear is that brands must take proactive steps to understand, monitor and manage their supply chains or face potential legal, financial and reputational consequences. Read our top five takeaways below.

Five key takeaways

Increased liability risk

Increased risk of criminal enforcement and civil liability in the UK if you fail to tackle forced labour or other unlawful activities in your global supply chain, as well as the risk of big regulatory fines for environmental and human rights failings in your or your supplier's operations.

Enhanced due diligence requirements

The EU's due diligence directive will soon require larger companies to identify adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their own operations and their 'chain of activities', with the Government recently announcing a review of the UK's approach to responsible business conduct including mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence in line with international standards.

Robust ABC prevention advised

Robust anti-bribery, corruption and fraud prevention procedures are required to mitigate the growing risk of corporate criminal liability for misconduct in supply chains.

Regulatory and reputational risks

Making sure your suppliers can back up any environmental or sustainability claims you are making or want to make about your products or services with robust evidence is essential to avoid the regulatory and reputational risks arising from accusations of 'greenwashing', while supply chains also involve substantial IP risks resulting from leaks or misappropriation of your IP or trade secrets.

Transparency

New EU laws require traders to undertake due diligence to ensure that relevant commodities and products placed on the EU market are 'deforestation-free', as well as introducing enhanced supply chain transparency requirements including in relation to durability and recycled content for all physical goods placed on the EU market.

Practical steps

Practical steps to mitigate risk include:

• establish a strong supplier governance framework with clear ownership and accountability
• categorise suppliers adopting a risk-based approach and map beyond tier 1
• conduct thorough supplier due diligence, including both operations and cyber resilience 
• implement strong contractual controls, standards and protections with suppliers
• deploy technology for tracking goods and provenance verification
• implement robust incident management procedures and preparedness
• ensure you have carried out exit and continuity planning, especially for critical suppliers
• focus on continuous review and improvements to your supply chain management.