Our key takeaway: There is a reason why the UN Guiding Principles on the Business and Human Rights, and the revised OECD Guidelines, are the authoritative international standards they are. They created an international and shared understanding of what it means for companies to manage their sustainability impacts across the value chain. They are the blueprint for how to secure better outcomes for people and the environment and are being used by companies around the world. Why then deviate from these international standards in the new EU law? A joint statement by a number of companies and networks calls on the European Council, Parliament and Commission to ensure that the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) does not deviate from these international standards. Alignment is the only way forward. The companies call out five areas in particular where alignment in the law is a must: a risk-based and full value chain approach; expecting innovative approaches to collaborative leverage; recognising the role of a company’s own activities on impacts; bringing in perspectives of affected stakeholders; and meaningful enforcement.
A number of businesses and networks have released a joint statement for the European Council, Parliament and Commission (April 2023):