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