Our key takeaway: Everyone is talking about ‘CSDD.’ What is this new directive that would require companies to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence, and what will it ultimately look like? Discussions are starting at every level of the text. Will the companies covered (and the companies not covered) enable the creation of a level playing field? Will the companies to be included in the due diligence (established business relationships) miss the most significant impacts and incentivise companies not to create long-lasting relationships? Will the due diligence provided for incentivize a contractual and audit-focused approach, to the detriment of leverage-building which actually tackles the impacts? Will stakeholders at the heart of this law be a part of due diligence, and be able to access effective remedy if they are impacted? And the list of questions goes on.
Here are just a few of the commentaries published in the last week on the corporate sustainability due diligence directive, and you can watch the European Parliament’s Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct’s webinar on the topic here:
Steve Gibbons, Ergon Associates, Some initial thoughts on the proposed EU Due Diligence Directive, https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2022/02/25/some-initial-thoughts-on-the-proposed-eu-due-diligence-directive/
