The think tank, Europe Jacques Delors, published a policy paper, on Monday 25 July, assessing the potential effectiveness of the Directive on Corporate due diligence (see EUROPE 12897/7). The authors identify flaws in the text that do not allow for preventing all the environmental and human rights abuses that should be prevented. They also state that the Commission is not proposing sufficient harmonisation to effectively crack down on and correct inappropriate corporate behaviour.
The Commission’s approach is initially “narrow” and “conservative” in defining negative environmental effects, according to Europe Jacques Delors. Furthermore, the authors of the report regret that the Commission intends to deal only with negative environmental effects that affect human rights and does not take into account purely environmental effects. The definition of these negative environmental effects needs to be broader, they say.
Regarding the reporting phase for companies, the obligations are based on concepts that are “too broad” for the authors of the document. For example, the fact that a company is only responsible for the behaviour of its suppliers once their relationship is established could lead companies to choose short-term partners.
When it comes to reporting environmental violations, all stakeholders should be able to file complaints with companies, not just those with an interest in preserving or exploiting the natural resources concerned, the think tank says. This is the case in the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law (see EUROPE 12854/17) and should be replicated in the case of corporate due diligence, according to the authors.
Finally, they consider that the implementation of the directive by national authorities will inevitably lead to differences between Member States and therefore to an uneven playing field across the continent.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/2qc (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)