The Tea Sector Model Clauses (TMCs)
The Tea Sector Model Clauses (TMCs) are designed to help tea companies and producers implement their commitment to responsible business conduct. They are aligned with the core principles of Responsible Contracting.
RCP prepared the TMCs in collaboration with members of the ETP (formerly Ethical Tea Partnership) and with input from civil society partners. The clauses are intended to provide guiding principles to ETP members and other actors operating across the tea sector, in particular, the growing number of tea enterprises that seek to distinguish themselves as responsible actors.
The TMCs and the Framing Memo, an accompanying guide that complements the implementation of the TMCs, will also help buyers, suppliers, and their partners align with evolving legal standards on human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD). While companies cannot expect to meet the requirements of new regulations, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), by adding clauses to their contracts alone, responsible contracts are a critical component of an effective due diligence process.
Latest News
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May 1 — RCP published a new analysis of the CSDDD and contracting in light of Omnibus I on the Oxford Business Law Blog: Moving Toward Shared Responsibility: How the EU’s CSDDD and Omnibus I Reimagine Contracting for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence. Also available as a PDF.
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April 27 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush and Senior Advisor John Sherman co-authored an essay for Shift's series marking the 15th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), titled, From Social Norm to Legal Practice: Fifteen Years of Integrating the UNGPs into Business Law.
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April 16 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush penned an op-ed in Sourcing Journal arguing responsible contracting is the antidote to supply chain uncertainty: Latest Tariff Chaos Demands a Rethink of Supply Contracts. Also available as a PDF.
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April 9 — RCP has launched its latest tool, the Responsible Contracting in Spice Supply Chains Guidance, developed in collaboration with the Sustainable Spice Initiative (SSI).
Events
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June 2 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush facilitated "Contracting for Sustainability," a workshop at the 2026 Annual Conference on Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing, co-organized by NYU School of Law's Grunin Center and the Impact Investing Legal Working Group, drawing over 40 participants.
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May 19 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge spoke at the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) General Assembly in Paris, joining industry members and value chain actors for a session on governance, procurement, and collective action in the vanilla sector.
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May 14 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge presented RCP's Responsible Contracting in Spice Supply Chains Guidance at the Sustainable Spices Initiative (SSI) General Assembly 2026 in Murcia, Spain, attended by nearly 100 delegates from around 50 organizations.
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May 8 — Senior Advisor Ben Rutledge participated in "From Transposition to Transformation: Designing and Enforcing Effective National HREDD Laws," a policymaker workshop co-organized by NOVA BHRE, BIICL, HIVA/KU Leuven, UNDP, Global Rights Compliance, and Westfälische Hochschule at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon.
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April 23 — RCP Director Sarah Dadush spoke on purchasing practices at Sourcing Journal's SJ Sustainability summit, Road to 2030: Dealing With Detours.
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