Activities of Miguel URBÁN CRESPO related to 2020/2129(INL)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability
Amendments (29)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that globalisation has created interdependencies between societies, where any product results from complex transnational supply and value chains and where decisions taken by European firms impact on peoples’ ability to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms worldwide; considers that business enterprises domiciled or based in the EU, or active on the EU market continue to cause, contribute to or be directly linked to human rights abuses (including forced labour, sexual abuse, and child exploitation) and environmental harms through their operations, value chains and business relations;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Regrets that many businesses’ decisions are primarily guided by lower costs and higher profits leading to downward pressure on prices paid to suppliers and producers with inadequate consideration of adverse impacts on human rights and the environment down their global value chains, while severe human rights violations often occur at primary production level, in particular when sourcing raw material and manufacturing products;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Notes that the Council of the European Union has clearly recognised that corporate respect for human rights throughout corporate operations and value and supply chains is indispensable to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points out that OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct further describe how businesses can avoid and address adverse impacts related to workers, human rights, the environment, corruption, consumers and corporate governance that may be associated with their operations, supply chains and other business relationships; recalls that high-risk sectors will require specific procedures and obligations, which is in line with OECD’s approach publishing specific sectorial guidelines; is of the view that Union legislation should progressively and constructively build on the UNGPs and that guidance;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Points out that corruption in the context of judicial proceedings can have a devastating effect on the lawful administration of justice and judicial integrity, and intrinsically violate the fundamental right to a fair trial, the right to due process and the victim’s right to effective redress; stresses that corruption generally leads to systematic abuse of human rights in the business context, for example, by preventing individuals from accessing goods and services that states are obliged to provide to meet their human rights obligations, by encouraging wrongful acquisition or appropriation by businesses of land, or facilitating money laundering or by granting licences or concessions to businesses in the extractive sector;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Considers that business enterprises must have an obligation to identify, cease, prevent, mitigate, monitor and account for potential and actual human rights and environmental adverse impacts through an ongoing due diligence process; business enterprises must integrate this obligation across all their business practices, operations and decisions in their global value chains and within their business relationships;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recommends that due diligence as required by Union legislation be extended to all potential or actual adverse impacts which the company has or may have caused, contributed by acts or omissions, contributed tom instigate to, induce to, cover up to or with which it may be directly linked; this extends to, but is not limited to, abuses across the entire value chain, including the parent undertaking, all subsidiaries, direct and indirect suppliers and subcontractors or other business partners;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recommends that Union legislation cover all companies, of all sizes and all sectors, including state-owned enterprises, the banking sector and financial institutions, including the European Investment Bank;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Recommends that Union mandatory due diligence legislation be adopted to require companies to identify and address their impacts with reference to all internationally recognised human rights including, as a minimum, those encompassed by the UDHR, all nine core international human rights treaties, including United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and all fundamental ILO conventions, as well as the ECHR, ICCPR and ICESCR, which are binding on Council of Europe member states and also bind Member States as a result of Union law and the common constitutional traditions of the Member States; is convinced that the future regulation should be based on UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recalls that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment has stated that the rights to life, health, food, water and development, as well as the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, are necessary for the full enjoyment of human rights; points out that the United Nations General Assembly recognised, in its Resolution 64/292, the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right; recommends consequently that those rights be covered by the legislation; considers that the legislation should include the Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law;
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Recommends that, requirements for corporate mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence be grounded in the principle of corporate responsibility to respect human rights as articulated by the UNGPs; businesses should avoidmust not infringinge human rights and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are directly or indirectly connected, entailing in practice that they should have in place an embedded human rights policy, a human rights due diligence process and appropriate and adequate measures to facilitate access to effective remedies for business-related human rights abuses, including at company level, and other grievance mechanisms;
Amendment 138 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Is of the view that businesses have a responsibility to ensure that their activities do not undermine or harm the protection of human and environmental rights; insists they must not promote, participate, induce, cover up or in any manner contribute to, or endorse policies and activities, which can lead to human rights violations; underlines that businesses must do everything possible, within their capacities, to prevent and mitigate the effect of adverse impacts;
Amendment 142 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Recognises that unfair and exploitative purchasing practices will often lead to adverse impacts on human rights, as in some sectors, a connection has been found between low prices and increases of debt bondage, forced overtime and illegal wage deduction; recommends that a review of purchasing practices be explicitly included in the due diligence obligation;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Stresses that human rights impacts can be specific to certain rights holders and vulnerable groups due to intersecting factors such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, social and employment status, union involvement, migrant or refugee status, exposure to conflict or violence or other factors; this must be reflected in the due diligence processes, including the human rights impact assessment phase and remedy procedures;
Amendment 161 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Notes that human right risks are context-specific and that, to accurately assess human rights risks, prevent, mitigate and remedy adverse impacts, businesses should include in their analysis, in addition to information from employees, right- holders, affected communities and workers’ representatives, information from reliable independent expert sources, for which transparency is key; stresses in this regard, the key role of national human rights institutions, Trade Unions, NGOs human rights oversight bodies such as the United Nations, ILO and Council of Europe, OSCE supervisory mechanisms, and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights as relevant sources of information and reporting;
Amendment 163 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 30 a (new)
Paragraph 30 a (new)
30a. Considers that the company must create and publish a vigilance plan and to make available to stakeholders all relevant information on the structure of the supply chain, the risks identified, the measures taken to respond to it; affirms that the plans, must be centralised in a single place and accessible to the public;
Amendment 166 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Notes that in order to assess human rights risks and environmental impacts, independent monitoring of human rights and environmental impacts and working conditions in supply chains is essential, in particular by means of monitoring, which has workers and affected communities at its core and fully involves relevant stakeholders;
Amendment 168 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Affirms that at all stages of the due diligence process, business enterprises must conduct effective, meaningful and informed consultations with both affected and potentially affected rights-holders, including but not limited to communities, workers, trade unions, civil society and women’s organisations, human rights defenders and indigenous peoples; maintains that businesses enterprises must enable participation by addressing specific barriers that certain groups may face and must also adapt the process to the needs and rights of specific groups; reminds that such consultations should also ensure the safe participation of rights-holders without fear of reprisal;
Amendment 180 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Underlines the importance of audits in the due diligence process, and points out in particular in the context of international supply chains, respecting the audit principles of independence, competence and accountability and any applicable audit scope, criteria and activities, as set out in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, is crucial;
Amendment 181 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 34 b (new)
Paragraph 34 b (new)
34b. Recommends the creation of independent national administrative authorities, responsible for centralising vigilance plans, supporting businesses in defining plans, applying sanctions for non-publication or insufficient plans, making all information available useful to the general public; states that networking of national and European actors (in particular the European Public Prosecutor’s Office) should be considered;
Amendment 184 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Notes that rights holders primarily affected by business-related human rights abuses often lack adequate access to information about their rights and about how they are given effect in domestic legislative systems, and have difficulty accessing state agencies and organisations concerned with protection and enforcement of their rights; recommends that the legislation encourage businesses to engage with all affected and potentially affected stakeholders, with their representatives, or both, including indigenous people’s, farmers’ and workers’ representatives, at all stages of the due diligence process, from development to monitoring and evaluation, in a timely and meaningful manner;
Amendment 187 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. In this context, underlines the importance of the freedom of association and right to collective bargaining,, the freedom of expression, the right of assembly and demonstration, the right to collective bargaining, the right to fair remuneration, decent working conditions and health and safety in the workplace as well as free, prior and informed consent by indigenous communities;
Amendment 193 #
37. Suggests that the companies establish effective alert mechanisms; through recourse to such mechanisms any interested party, including trade unions, consumers, journalists, civil society organisations, lawyers, and human rights and environmental defenders, or members of the public, should be able to warn the company of adverse impacts and human rights violations; calls on the Commission to consult with the European Ombudsman on accompanying measures needed to support this role;
Amendment 205 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Highlights the fact that, as recalled by the UNGPs, states have the duty to ensure, through judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate means, that those affected by business-related human rights abuses have access to an effective remedy; Recommends that the legislation makes specific reference to this obligation in line with the United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Rights to Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law; recommends that the legislation should require Member States to take appropriate measures to remove legal, practical and other obstacles that could lead to a denial of access to effective remedy;
Amendment 206 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Amendment 209 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Stresses that as part of due diligence, as required by the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and environment, companies should put in place processes to enable the adverse human rights impacts they causeand environmental impacts they cause by acts or omissions, or to which they contribute to be remedied; accordingly, operational level grievance mechanisms should be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, based on engagement and dialogue and a source of continued learning as established in United Nations Guiding Principle 31; emphasises that such mechanisms should never be used to obstruct access to justice via state-based, judicial and non-judicial, grievance mechanisms;
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 47 a (new)
Paragraph 47 a (new)
47a. Recommends the creation of a European public agency to monitor, analyse, investigate and inspect the practices of companies and their supply chains; affirms that its primary function would be to investigate the actions of companies and complaints made by groups and organisations affected by the practices of companies in third states; considers that the agency would make its findings public and present them to the European Parliament;
Amendment 244 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Recommends that the legislation include administrative, civil and criminal liability provisions for companies and directors and management that are held responsible in the event of severe violations of human rights.;
Amendment 248 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 51 a (new)
Paragraph 51 a (new)
51a. Points out that civil and administrative liability is necessary for offences other than criminal offences; considers that liability should also apply where abuses result from failure to meet due diligence requirements;