What Actually Happens If You Ignore an LkSG Questionnaire
I get it. You opened the email, saw a wall of legal terminology in a mix of English and German, and thought: "Maybe if I just don't reply, this goes away."
It won't. But it's also not as catastrophic as you might fear. Let me walk you through what actually happens on the other side when you don't respond — and what your options are.
Why your client is sending this in the first place
Your German client isn't sending you this questionnaire because they suspect you of anything. They're doing it because a German law — the LkSG — legally requires them to assess risk across their entire supply chain. Every supplier gets the questionnaire. The factory in China, the logistics company in Romania, the software agency in the UK. Everyone.
Their compliance team has a spreadsheet. Your company is a row on it. They need to fill in that row. That's it.
What happens when you don't respond
Here's the typical sequence:
Week 1-2: A follow-up email
Someone from procurement or compliance sends you a reminder. It's usually polite. "Just following up on the questionnaire we sent on [date]. Could you please complete it by [new date]?"
Most suppliers get at least one or two of these before anything escalates.
Week 3-4: You get flagged as "non-responsive"
This is where it starts to matter. Your client's compliance team needs to classify all their suppliers by risk level. If you haven't responded, they can't assess you — so they have to assume the worst.
You go from "unknown risk" to "potential high risk." Not because they think you're doing anything wrong, but because they have no data to prove otherwise.
Month 2-3: Business consequences begin
Depending on the company, this can mean:
- Additional scrutiny: They might send someone to audit you, which is far more disruptive than filling out a questionnaire
- Contract amendments: New clauses requiring due diligence documentation as a condition of continued business
- Reduced order volume: Some companies quietly shift work to suppliers who have responded
- Supplier list removal: In the worst case, you get dropped from the approved vendor list
The part nobody tells you
Most of the time, the consequences are slow and indirect. You probably won't get a dramatic email saying "you're fired as a supplier." What happens is more subtle — you stop getting quoted for new projects, your contract doesn't get renewed, a competitor who responded gets the next order.
The procurement manager who liked working with you still likes working with you. But their compliance team has flagged your company, and that flag makes everything harder.
What you should NOT do
Don't send a one-line reply saying "we comply with everything." This actually makes things worse. A vague assurance without any substance signals that you either don't understand the requirements or aren't taking them seriously. Your client's compliance team can't file "trust me" as documentation.
Don't copy-paste generic policy templates from the internet. Compliance teams have seen the same templates hundreds of times. If your "Human Rights Policy" is word-for-word identical to a template on page one of Google, it raises more questions than it answers.
Don't panic and hire an expensive consultant — at least not yet. For most small suppliers, the questionnaire asks about practices you already have in place. You just need to describe them properly.
What you SHOULD do
If you can still respond (even late)
Responding late is always, always better than not responding at all. Most procurement teams understand that small suppliers need more time. A late response gets your row filled in. No response keeps you flagged.
If you need more time, just reply to the email: "We're working on this and will have it to you by [date]." That alone moves you from "non-responsive" to "in progress" in their system.
If you're overwhelmed by the questions
Start with the easy parts — company information, number of employees, industry. Then tackle the policy questions one at a time. Many of them are simpler than they sound:
- "Describe your grievance mechanism" → Do your workers know who to talk to if they have a problem? That's a grievance mechanism.
- "Describe your age verification process" → Do you check IDs when you hire people? That's age verification.
- "Describe your environmental management" → Do you separate waste and follow local environmental regulations? That counts.
You don't need to have formal, written policies for everything. You need to be able to describe what you actually do.
If you've already missed the deadline
Write back. Apologize briefly for the delay. Ask if you can still submit. In the vast majority of cases, the answer is yes. Compliance is an ongoing process, not a one-time exam. Your client would much rather have a late response than no response.
The bottom line: ignoring an LkSG questionnaire doesn't make it go away — it just makes your client assume the worst. Responding, even imperfectly and even late, is always the better move.
If you're staring at a questionnaire right now and don't know where to start, that's exactly why we built KettenKlar. Simple questions, professional output, 10 minutes. Start now →