On Monday 5 September, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) discussed the future directive on corporate due diligence. Lara Wolters (S&D, Dutch), who is in charge of the dossier, stressed the need to work quickly and hard on the report in order to hope to vote on the text before the end of the current legislature.
The shadow rapporteurs regretted that no less than seven parliamentary committees are competent to give an opinion on this issue. This risks delaying the process and preventing a vote before 2024, they say.
On the Council side, a political agreement in principle (‘general approach’) is expected by December, according to Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek, who is chairing the work of the EU justice ministers until the end of 2022. During a hearing in the Parliament on 5 September, he said that for the time being, several Member States have not yet given their position.
The Commission’s proposal needs to be “rethought”
In the European Parliament, work on this report will be important, as Lara Wolters wants to review several fundamental points of the text.
Starting with the scope. As soon as a company falls within the application criteria, its entire supply chain must be subject to the obligations of the text, and not only the suppliers who have an established relationship with the company.
This criterion of an ‘established relationship’ between two companies opens loopholes, according to Lara Wolters, but also according to the shadow rapporteurs Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finnish) and Manon Aubry (The Left, French).
The three MEPs also question the possibility for companies to derogate from some of the directive’s obligations by signing a contract with a supplier who commits to respecting human rights and the environment. Ms Wolters considers that this contract may be a good complementary tool to engage companies, but should not take away the responsibility of their actions.
The S&D, Greens/EFA and The Left groups also want more involvement for civil society and trade unions than the Commission proposes. The burden of proof should also be reversed to facilitate access to justice for victims, according to the three groups.
On Tuesday 6 September, a coalition of NGOs and trade unions launched the ‘Justice is everybody’s business’ campaign, which calls on the public to take action on the directive establishing due diligence for European companies. According to the campaigners, the Commission’s proposal does not cover the entire supply chain and risks missing many violations. They also join the European Parliament rapporteur in calling for victims to have easier access to justice in EU countries. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)