Work has begun in the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) on the ‘omnibus’ directive, which amends the directives on sustainability reporting (CSRD) and corporate due diligence (CSDDD). The rapporteur, Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Swedish), presented his priorities to the other political groups and insisted on the need, in his opinion, to be ambitious with regard to simplification to ensure the competitiveness of European businesses.
He therefore proposes additional changes to those proposed by the European Commission in February (see EUROPE 13588/4). In his opinion, the scope of the CSRD and CSDDD directives should be aligned, and this alignment should be moving towards a higher threshold, although he did not give a precise figure during this initial exchange.
The rapporteur would also like to go further on the degree of harmonisation of rules between Member States, i.e. the fact that Member States cannot adopt rules that are more restrictive than those laid down in the directives.
However, with regard to the CSDDD directive, he expressed his satisfaction with the European Commission’s proposal that companies should only demonstrate due diligence in respect of their direct trading partners, and with the proposal to remove the right to seek justice at European level for victims.
These two issues are likely to complicate negotiations between the political groups. The S&D, the Greens/EFA, The Left and even Renew Europe disagree over the issue of civil liability.
For Lara Wolters (S&D, Dutch), who was rapporteur on the CSDDD, it makes no sense to limit due diligence to direct partners. “Instead of asking companies to prioritise the worst cases, the proposal focuses on direct suppliers. European companies are going to have to put pressure on the SMEs that supply them in Europe instead of looking further down the value chain, to manufacturers in Xinjiang, for example”, she deplored.
As for abolishing corporate civil liability at European level, this runs counter to the objectives of harmonisation and simplification, said Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, French).
The MEP also defended the principle of double materiality within the CSRD, which he said works on the ground.
On the other hand, the PfE and ECR groups reiterated their rejection of the essence of the two directives. “We think that both directives should be abolished”, said Tobiasz Bocheński (ECR, Polish). Failing that, he is in favour of voluntary rather than mandatory reporting, or a ten-year postponement of the rules.
The EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups reiterated their goal of reaching a joint agreement on the report in order to counter a far-right offensive to remove most of the obligations of the two directives. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)