Today, the Council of the EU approved a watered-down version of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). It includes a severely reduced scope: Only about 0,05% of companies across the EU will be subject to the new law, a cut of roughly 2/3 - compared to the December trilogue outcome.
"The Belgian Presidency of the Council managed to save EU companies from having to comply with a patchwork of national laws and found agreement on a common EU response to exploitation in global value chains. However, the cuts introduced at the eleventh hour leave a bitter aftertaste: They will likely reduce the positive impacts on people working in the value chains of EU companies due to the reduced scope and throw into doubt the reliability and legitimacy of normal EU decision-making processes," says Julia Otten, Senior Policy Officer at Frank Bold.
Today's approval builds on four years of work done by the European Commission, European Parliament and by the Member States - alongside with the engagement from trade unions, civil society and businesses. As Frank Bold, we advocated for defining a level-playing-field on responsible corporate conduct for large companies in the EU and designing an effective EU response to the race to the bottom in global value chains.
It is now the turn of the European Parliament to take the high road and cast the definitive vote in favour of an agreement that, while imperfect, will contribute to fairer and more sustainable global value chains.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) proposal stipulates that EFRAG should be responsible for carrying out a due process to draft, consult and deliver EU sustainability standards for adoption by the European Commission. On 1 March, the EFRAG General Assembly appointed the members of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, which will be responsible for all sustainability reporting positions of EFRAG, including technical advice to the European Commission on draft EU Sustainability Reporting Standards and related amendments.
Dear Members of the European Parliament, In the next couple of weeks, various committees in the European Parliament will vote on their proposals to reform the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). In view of that, the co-signing organisations are calling for broadening the scope of the companies to be covered by the new rules by including all listed SMEs, as well as non-listed SMEs operating in high-risk sectors, subject to proportional rules.
In response to demands from investors and companies, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in February 2022. The Directive is also a response to France, Germany and Norway adopting legislation on due diligence and attempts to harmonize and introduce one European standard of responsible business conduct.
