The general approach of the EU Council reached on 1 December on the Corporate Due Diligence Directive has caused reactions from NGOs, trade unions and MEPs. Many criticise the general lack of ambition of the text.
The agreement reached by the Member States (see EUROPE 13075/1) “will certainly ensure that this law is dead on arrival”, according to the NGO Friends of the Earth Europe, the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE) and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, which are part of the ‘Justice is Everybody’s Business’ campaign. They regret that the EU Council did not focus on access to justice and reparations for the damage caused to victims.
The fact that Member States have reduced the scope of activities covered by the directive in the value chain is also a problem for NGOs. “This means that some companies will not be held liable for damage caused by their products and services”, they say.
The solution proposed by the Czech Presidency of the EU Council to leave the choice to Member States to exclude financial sectors from the scope of the directive “threatens to create a patchwork of rules in the EU that will undermine the very purpose of the directive”, according to the NGOs.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) also regrets the choice of the EU-27 to relax the rules of the directive. The ETUC would like to see greater consultation of workers and trade unions in all the procedures laid down in the directive.
Furthermore, the proposal made by the Member States to apply the obligations of the directive to companies up to 5 years after the entry into force of the text is unacceptable for the ETUC.
MEP Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA, French) also criticised the EU Council’s lack of ambition, especially on environmental commitments. “Climate has been proactively excluded from the final text, while environmental damage in general will have to be identified, but without any liability. Corporations can therefore continue to destroy life and accelerate climate disruption with impunity”, she said. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)