Lindt hit with US lawsuit over West African child labour
Swiss confectioner Lindt is facing a US lawsuit alleging its supply chain relies on child labour, spotlighting the mounting legal risks European firms face as their sustainability claims face increasing scrutiny.
Lindt & Sprüngli has been sued in a Washington, D.C. federal court over accusations that it sources its cocoa from plantations using child labour in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The legal complaint, filed on Tuesday, alleges the Swiss company has knowingly profited from these practices for over two decades while publicly marketing its ethical sourcing standards.
The litigation highlights a specific vulnerability in Lindt's operations. According to the court filing, the company relies entirely on West Africa for its key ingredients, sourcing 100% of its consumer-grade cocoa beans from Ghana and its cocoa butter from Ivory Coast.
For European consumer goods companies, the case underscores a widening gap between public sustainability pledges and legal accountability. As the European Union introduces stricter supply chain due diligence rules, investors and manufacturers are facing mounting pressure to prove that corporate social responsibility programmes translate into actual labour practices on the ground.
The lawsuit targets this disconnect directly. "A reasonable consumer would not expect a company 'committed to respecting human rights' and 'conducting business in an ethical, legal and environmentally and socially responsible manner' to use widespread child labor in its cocoa supply chain," the complaint states. Lindt's website currently promotes a 2030 Sustainability Plan and a "Modern Slavery Statement," which includes adherence to Rainforest Alliance certification.
The Kilchberg-based firm strongly rejects the claims. "Lindt & Sprüngli takes the issue of child labor very seriously and strongly condemns all forms of child labor and denies the allegations in the complaint," a company spokesperson said on Thursday. "We have supplier protocols in place, and we systematically investigate suspected cases of child labor in our supply chain."
The case was brought by International Rights Advocates, a public interest law firm that has levelled similar accusations at other major food producers including Nestlé, Mars and Mondelez. The organisation's executive director, Terry Collingsworth, said his research "confirmed that Lindt, like the other major cocoa companies, has great paper policies and virtually no implementation, particularly on the child labor issue." The lawsuit seeks to halt the alleged unlawful conduct directed at D.C. consumers rather than demanding financial damages.
