Law and social traceability. Global value chains with a human face?

This article proposes that efforts to govern Global Value Chains (GVCs), to reduce negative externalities, involve the construction of a legal infrastructure that has traceability as its central function. Traceability concerns the ability to track the history, application, and location of a product or process throughout its entire lifecycle. Traceability infrastructures are crucial elements in global supply chains in order to meet various legal requirements. This paper examines traceability, in general and as a legal requirement, and explains how mandatory due diligence legislation must be analysed through its traceability requirements. It focuses on stakeholder engagement in mandatory due diligence and explains how it should be understood as legally required social traceability, and considers the significance of this burgeoning phenomenon.