As MEPs debated the opening of negotiations with the Council on the ‘omnibus’ text simplifying the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) at their plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 22 October - an opening they rejected (see EUROPE 13736/9) - the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) has published an analysis setting out the conditions necessary for an effective system.
This document - ‘A Human Rights Approach to Due Diligence: Reflections on key principles’ - points out that the “HRDD process should be risk-based and proactive, i.e. focus on preventing and addressing the most severe and the most likely adverse impacts to human rights”.
Restricting due diligence to direct partners would undermine the effectiveness of the system and “could result in severe human rights risks across the value chains remaining unidentified and unaddressed”.
The FRA also makes stakeholder engagement an important element: “Meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the HRDD process should be ensured, as it helps companies identify risks and develop targeted mitigation measures.” The EU Agency therefore argues that rights holders, trade unions and human rights defenders must therefore be fully involved.
It also notes that access to effective remedies must be a priority.
The document advocates “establishing clear liability standards and harmonised civil liability regimes across the EU” in order to guarantee legal certainty for businesses while offering genuine redress to victims.
In the same vein, the FRA urges the establishment of supervisory authorities with a strong mandate and sufficient resources to investigate, order corrective measures and impose sanctions that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.
The Agency’s aim is to point out that the CSDDD is not simply a risk management tool for companies, but provides substantial protection for human rights and the environment, and that a simplification that would lead to its weakening would not be without consequences for those concerned.
Link to the note: https://aeur.eu/f/j3n (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)