The RCP Toolkit
The RCP Toolkit contains practical and versatile tools that companies can use to improve the human rights and environmental performance of their contracts and, by extension, their supply chains.
Explore by category:
Model Contract Clauses
Sector-agnostic and sector-specific model contract clauses that can be readily selected, edited, adapted, and integrated into supply contracts.
Explainers & Implementation Guidance
Guidance on the how, what, and why of Responsible Contracting adapted for different stakeholders and supply chains.
Policy & Legal Briefs
RCP's analyses of legislative developments and relevant requirements with respect to commercial contracts, as well as legal opinions and analysis.
Codes of Conduct & Responsible Purchasing Practices
Templates and guidance for developing codes of conduct that adopt a shared-responsibility approach for buyers and suppliers. These tools have been developed by RCP's partners and other like-minded organizations.
How to Use the Tools:
Step 1
The RCP Toolkit model clauses are designed to be used in conjunction with a “master agreement” or “framework agreement” under which individual purchase orders are issued. The master or framework agreement is assumed to include all commercial terms, including remedies, while the SMCs are devoted to human rights due diligence (HRDD)-related obligations and remedies.
Step 2
Rather than copying and pasting the model clauses into the contract, users should (1) select the clauses they want to include in the contract and (2) edit and adapt them to suit their needs and specific circumstances.
Step 3
The Codes of Conduct (CoCs) – the supplier code and the buyer code – can be added as schedules or appendices to the master agreement. When added to the master agreement, the CoCs become binding on the parties.
Step 4
While users can choose which clauses to include in their contracts, RCP strongly recommends including SMC 1 on Shared Responsibility to Carry Out Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence as that clause centers HRDD and ties in with many of the other SMCs. SMC 2 sets the HRDD stage and weaves a common HRDD thread across the clauses.
Step 5
Please refer to the Framing Memo for further instructions on how to incorporate the SCMs into contracts.
Step 6
RCP will also be providing some drafting guidance to guide users on how to select clauses, as well as on how to make decisions concerning the various wording options offered in the SMCs using square brackets ([…]/[…]).
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).
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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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