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European Parliament votes in favour of supply chain law: Milestone for human rights, environment and climate protection

In February 2022, the European Commission presented its proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) to protect human rights and the environment. The position of the Council of Ministers followed in December 2022. In months of negotiations, the committees of the European Parliament have formulated a compromise, which was put to the vote and adopted on 1 June.

Press release of the Initative Supply Chain Act, in which FEMNET is involved.

Michelle Trimborn, spokesperson for the Supply Chain Act initiative, commented on today's vote in the European Parliament on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD):

"With the approval of a European Supply Chain Act, the European Parliament has today taken an important step towards fairer global supply chains. MEPs voted with a stable majority in favour of binding rules for companies. The message is clear: In the future, human rights, climate and the environment must be effectively protected from negative influences from global economic activity.

As an initiative of the Supply Chain Act, we particularly welcome the fact that the EU Supply Chain Act should follow a consistently risk-based approach. In this way, the law can have a preventive effect and ensure that serious human rights violations and environmental damage are detected and prevented in good time. In addition, the law should also cover the deeper value chain. Both create the conditions for protecting human rights and the environment where they are the worst: at the beginning of the supply chain. Parliament has also confirmed that companies are also responsible for climate protection. The law requires companies to draw up and implement climate protection plans in line with the 1.5-degree target.

Nevertheless, today's compromise is far from our demands as a civil society. When it comes to access to justice, we welcome the basic rules on liability, but we also see massive weaknesses: Those affected remain hopeless, because they usually have little resources and do not have access to company-internal information. Thus, they can hardly prove in court that companies do not fulfil their due diligence obligations. That is why we demand a fair distribution of the burden of proof. Of course, full due diligence obligations must also apply to the financial sector. This is the only way to ensure that European banks and investors do not finance human rights violations and environmental degradation.

We are very concerned that today the German members of the EPP Group (German CDU/CSU) have tried to further weaken the European supply chain law with short-term amendments. We expect the German government, for its part, to fulfil its promise from the coalition agreement and to now campaign in trilogue for an effective EU supply chain law.

In the upcoming trilogue process between the EU legislative institutions, the Commission, the Council and the European Union, the final design of the directives will be negotiated.

supplement

The draft law put to the vote goes beyond the German Supply Chain Act in key points. Nevertheless, this draft also lacks a gender-specific perspective. Gender due diligence is urgently needed to protect women across supply chains from human rights violations, exploitation and gender-based violence. In March this year, FEMNET, together with 140 organisations, published an open letter to the EU Commission, MEPs and the EU Council.