The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the 'MSA') contains provisions relating to transparency in supply chains. The MSA requires the annual publication of a statement (or a link thereto) regarding slavery and human trafficking. The statement must be posted in a prominent place on the organisation's website, and it must be signed by a director. This requirement applies to commercial organisations operating in the UK, regardless of their place of incorporation, with an annual global turnover of more than GBP 36 million.
In terms of the content of the statement, this should indicate the steps the organisation has taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of its supply chains, and in any part of its own business; or, alternatively, that the organisation has taken no such steps.
At present, enforcement sanctions for failure to publish a statement in accordance with the MSA are limited. There are no financial penalties for non-compliance; theoretically enforcement would be by way of an injunction brought by the Secretary of State, but there have been no such proceedings to date. The intention when the legislation was introduced was that enforcement would be achieved by the public scrutiny to which commercial organisations are exposed in publishing their statement.
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