Assessed Task
You are legal counsel to the Department of Trade and Industry and the following
matters have been brought to your attention through a joint investigation by the
Foreign Office and the Department for International Development.
In 2015 two British nationals were arrested in Vietnam and charged under the
Vietnamese Criminal Code for engaging in acts of Human Trafficking, and for
aiding and abetting Acts of Modern Slavery. The Foreign Office co-operated with
the Vietnamese police in the investigation of the matter and the following facts
emerged:
1. The two British nationals represented five major multinational companies
who collectively engage in the sale of clothes, electrical goods and
cosmetics.
2. The multinational companies have factories in Vietnam, China and
Bangladesh.
3. Products produced by these factories are sold in the EU, US and Australia.
4. British companies have engaged in the importing of these goods directly
from the factories in Vietnam, China and Bangladesh.
5. The factories in Vietnam, China and Bangladesh are under scrutiny by the
United Nations for engaging in forced labour, child labour and for flouting
internationally recognised standards of environmental protection.
The Vietnamese continue to investigate the matter with a trial of the two British
nationals scheduled for April 2017.
The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) is extremely concerned about the  facts that emerged from the investigation of this case particularly in relation to point 5 above. The Department for Trade and Industry is consequently keen to ensure that no British national or British company becomes the subject of future
international criminal investigations and toward this end require you to complete the following two projects:

a. Produce a report which:
(i) Explains the relationship between international business and the
incidents of forced labour, child labour and the flouting of
international environmental regulations.
(ii) Identifies the extent to which there is any international regulation of
these matters.
(iii) Enhances the existing regulation of these matters.
The report will be used to identify the extent of the problem and assist the
DTI to decide what the most appropriate action would be to curtail the
incidents occurring in point 5 above.

Weighting
This assessed task is worth 50%of your overall mark for this module
Learning Outcomes Tested
This task has been designed to assess students’ capacity to ‘[u]nderstand and critically evaluate the meaning of sustainable development and the law applicable to international business transactions.’

Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria are descriptive statements designed to identify the specific properties/characteristics/aspects of your work the marker will consider when
marking/gradingit. In other words assessment criteria are designed to answer the
question: ‘What am I being assessed on?’
To complete this assessed task to the requisite standard students will need to:
 Demonstrate substantive knowledge of the relevant issues, and how they
relate to sustainability
 Demonstrate an ability to engage with issues in an innovative and original
Sensitivity: Internal
context through independent research;
 Demonstrate a capacity for analysis by using their ideas to resolve relevant
issues in an ethical and sustainable context; and
 Communicate their ideas effectively in writing.
Competences Developed
By completing this assessment, students will be able to evidence competency in
the following areas:
 Commercial Awareness
 Creativity
 Global citizenship
 Enterprise and innovation
Furthermore this assessed task gives students an opportunity to develop and
demonstrate their competency in the following transferrable skills:
 Research
 Problem solving
 Communication and literacy
Further information about graduate competencies/transferable skills can be
foundinthe ‘Student Assessment Handbook: Coursework’.