EU member states have signed up to new EU supply chain rules, while the Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) seeks to make companies responsible for the damage they cause to people and the environment, Ekklesia reported.
“The good news is that Business Europe and their allies failed to scupper a landmark legislation. The bad news is that EU countries did it again: they slashed the rules to appease big business, dealing a blow to Europe’s self-claimed standing as a champion of democracy and human rights,” Oxfam EU’s Economic Justice lead, Marc-Olivier Herman, commented.
Oxfam argues that the proposals agreed in December have been weakened in a variety of ways, including reducing the number of companies that will have to comply: only companies with more than 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of €450 million will now be covered. Fewer than 5,500 European companies will have to follow the law.
Further, companies will have fewer obligations to verify their impact on human rights and the planet as they do not need to track the impact of their downstream business on the disposal of their products, including dismantling, recycling, composting and landfill. Companies, meanwhile, no longer need to incentivise their directors to implement climate transition plans through financial rewards.
Additionally, if the law comes into force by the end of 2024, most companies will only have to comply from 2029.
The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee should vote in favour of ratifying the agreement in the coming weeks. The full Parliament is due to give final approval in a plenary vote in April.
