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Sarah Bishop

Sarah Bishop is a U.S. and UK-qualified lawyer who advises companies on ethics and compliance programs, compliance with anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, business and human rights (BHR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters, white collar investigations, and suspension and debarment.

Sarah’s compliance advisory practice includes helping multinational corporations develop and test the robustness of ethics and compliance programs, conducting risk assessments, conducting transactional and third party due diligence, supporting post-acquisition compliance integration projects, and delivering compliance training. She has particular expertise advising on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act and has advised companies in the energy, mining, pharmaceutical, healthcare, technology, and consumer goods sectors, among others, on anti-corruption compliance risks and program development.

As a member of Covington’s Business and Human Rights practice group, Sarah advises companies on the developing legal and enforcement landscape related to the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. She advises on enforcement risks under Withhold Release Orders (WROs), the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) in the United States, as well as developing ESG due diligence and reporting requirements in Europe. Sarah has helped multinational corporations in the healthcare, technology, automotive, energy, mining, and consumer goods sectors develop human rights due diligence programs, navigate human rights-related enforcement matters, and report on human rights due diligence efforts.

Sarah has extensive experience conducting internal and government-facing white collar investigations. Sarah has conducted investigations involving allegations of bribery, money laundering, export control and sanctions violations, fraud, human rights violations, and other forms of misconduct. She has handled matters before major international enforcement authorities and has been recognized in the Global Investigations Review Women in Investigations survey.

Sarah also assists clients in suspension and debarment matters before the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

Contact:Read more about Sarah BishopEmail

Those in the business of fast‑moving consumer goods (“FMCGs”) are likely aware of the plethora of environmental and product stewardship regulations applicable to the FMCG sector.  These laws are set to increase and expand in application.  What FMCG companies also need to get to grips with are a range of broader (and also fast‑moving!) environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) developments and consequent risks and opportunities.  Companies need to understand how the new world of ESG impacts their supply chains, key ingredients and components, consumer choice and confidence, competitive advantage, market accessibility, and marketing. 

Designed as a ‘primer’ for FMCG companies, in this piece, we cover a range of key trends in the emerging UK and EU ESG legal landscape as relevant for the FMCG sector, from farmers to Food Business Operators (“FBOs”) and from manufacturers to retailers.  We also discuss some key legal and reputational risks; as well as pointers to help companies decipher and prepare for the ESG storm.

We focus on the UK and the EU (first movers on many ESG issues), but the landscape in other jurisdictions (including, for example, the US) is also evolving and becoming more complex.

Key ESG Issues for FMCGs

We think there are four categories of key ESG developments for FMCGs to watch: (I) corporate reporting and disclosure regimes; (II) green/sustainability claims and labelling; (III) supply chain obligations; and (IV) product packaging and presentation.

Many emerging ESG frameworks cut across sectors.  This may be efficient for regulators, but can make identifying sector-specific risks and opportunities more challenging.  We have sought to do that below.Continue Reading Green Groceries: Key ESG Issues for the FMCG Industry (including FBOs)

The focus of this year’s UN Forum on Business and Human Rights was “putting rights holders at the centre” of business’ human rights due diligence efforts. In this post, ahead of Human Rights Day, we distill the important takeaways for business, drawing on Forum discussions among a range of stakeholders, including corporate representatives, governments, NGOs and rights-holders themselves.

1.  The business and human rights legal landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace and this trajectory will continue.

Many governments worldwide are considering and implementing new human rights due diligence legislative initiatives. Aside from laws already passed and the EU sustainability due diligence initiative (see our earlier alert), there are similar proposals on the table in Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, and other countries. Japan recently published non-binding guidance for business, intended to drive good practice.  Other countries are developing “National Action Plans” (“NAPs) under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UNGPs”), which can be a pre-curser to binding regulations. While legislative initiatives to date have largely been found in the Global North, we are also seeing movement in other regions: The African Union recently convened the first African Forum on Business and Human Rights.

While at varying stages of development and implementation, the fundamental tenets of these due diligence laws generally are similar. Companies are required to implement due diligence programs to identify and mitigate adverse human rights (and often environmental) impacts in their own operations and global supply or value chains.Continue Reading The 11th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights: Key Takeaways for Business

There have been several recent developments in international efforts to combat trade in goods made with forced labor, with important implications for responsible sourcing and global trade compliance programs.

On September 14, 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) published a proposal to ban products made with forced labor from the EU market. The proposal notably goes beyond banning the importation of such products and would also create a ban on the export of products produced with forced labor and require their withdrawal from the EU market.

Meanwhile, enforcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) of the U.S. forced labor import prohibition has continued to intensify, including under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”). In early August 2022, CBP clarified the process for updating the UFLPA Entity List. In addition, CBP recently announced that it intends to integrate forced labor compliance requirements into the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (“CTPAT”) “trusted trader” program.

We discuss these developments and their implications below.

EU Forced Labor Product Ban

The European Commission has proposed a Regulation prohibiting products made with forced labor from being imported to, exported from, or sold in the EU, following an announcement by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her State of the Union address in September 2021.

The Commission’s proposal is the first step in the EU’s formal legislative process. The Regulation will now have to be agreed by the European Parliament and Council to become law, following which there will be an agreed delay—the Commission has proposed two years—before it applies in EU Member States. As it usually takes at least 12 months, and often closer to 18 months, for the European Parliament and Council to agree on a legislative text after a proposal by the Commission is published, it is unlikely that the Regulation will be adopted before the end of 2023, and it is therefore unlikely to become applicable earlier than late 2025.Continue Reading Breaking Developments in Forced Labor Trade Enforcement—the EU’s Proposed Forced Labor Product Ban and Recent Developments in U.S. Customs Enforcement

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Continue Reading Africa Compliance Minute Series – What Does DOJ’s Recent Guidance on Compliance Programs Mean for Companies Operating in Africa?

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Continue Reading Africa Compliance Minute Series – Acting Early to Save You Later: The Importance of Taking Corrective Action During the Course of an Investigation

In Part 2 of our business and human rights series to mark World Human Rights Day, we discuss the increasing recognition of the linkages between human rights abuses and corruption, and how companies can find efficiencies in their efforts to address these overlapping risks.

Corruption and adverse human rights impacts…
Continue Reading Corruption and Human Rights: Inextricably Linked

In our experience, compliance professionals spend a significant amount of time and resources focusing on the “how” – designing, implementing, sustaining, and improving effective compliance programs. This focus is no doubt warranted given recent emphasis by enforcement authorities on the need for corporates to test the effectiveness of their compliance

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Continue Reading Articulating the Business Case for Investing in Compliance Programs

Companies today face increasingly complex regulatory frameworks globally and intense levels of corporate scrutiny from government enforcement agencies around the world. As government agencies embrace sophisticated crime-busting technology and the world shrinks through greater inter-agency cooperation, there are more ways than ever for governments to identify misconduct and hold companies

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Continue Reading Five Key Considerations For Handling Internal Corporate Investigations

  1. Africa’s Growth Prospects. Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at 3.8 percent in 2019, which is a significant improvement over last year’s regional growth rate of 2.6 percent. Excluding the continent’s largest economies (Angola, Nigeria and South Africa), which are growing collectively at an average of 2.5

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Continue Reading Top Ten Issues to Watch in Africa in 2019