40 Amendments of Christophe HANSEN related to 2022/0051(COD)
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point a
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point a
(a) on obligations for companies regarding actual and potential human rights adverse impacts and environmental adverse impacts, with respect to their own operations, the operations of their subsidiaries, and the valuesupply chain operations carried out by third country entities with whom the company has an direct established business relationship and
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point b
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
The nature of business relationships as ‘established’ shall be reassessed periodically, and at least every 124 months.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Member States shall not lay down, in their national law, provisions diverging from those laid down in this Directive unless otherwise provided for in this Directive.
Amendment 138 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
Recital 19
Amendment 138 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the company had more than 5000 employees on average and had a net worldwide turnover of more than EUR 150 million in the last financial year for which annual financial statements have been prepared;
Amendment 143 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point i
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point i
Amendment 154 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point iii
Amendment 160 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) In order to reflect the priority areas of international action aimed at tackling human rights and environmental issues, the selection of high-impact sectors for the purposes of this Directive should be based on existing sectoral OECD due diligence guidance. The following sectors should be regarded as high-impact for the purposes of this Directive: the manufacture of textiles, leather and related products (including footwear), and the wholesale trade of textiles, clothing and footwear; agriculture, forestry, fisheries (including aquaculture), the manufacture of food products, and the wholesale trade of agricultural raw materials, live animals, wood, food, and beverages; the extraction of mineral resources regardless of where they are extracted from (including crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, lignite, metals and metal ores, as well as all other, non-metallic minerals and quarry products), the manufacture of basic metal products, other non-metallic mineral products and fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment), and the wholesale trade of mineral resources, basic and intermediate mineral products (including metals and metal ores, construction materials, fuels, chemicals and other intermediate products). As regards the financial sector, due to its specificities, in particular as regards the value chain and the services offered, even if it is covered by sector-specific OECD guidance, it should not form part of the high-impact sectors covered by this Directive. At the same time, in this sector, the broader coverage of actual and potential adverse impacts should be ensured by also including very large companies in the scope that are regulated financial undertakings, even if they do not have a legal form with limited liability.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) Under the due diligence obligations set out by this Directive, a company should identify actual or potential adverse human rights and environmental impacts. In order to allow for a comprehensive identification of adverse impacts, such identification should be based on quantitative and qualitative information. For instance, as regards adverse environmental impacts, the company should obtain information about baseline conditions at higher risk sites or facilities in value chains. Identification of adverse impacts should include assessing the human rights, and environmental context in a dynamic way and in regular intervals: prior to a new activity or relationship, prior to major decisions or changes in the operation; in response to or anticipation of changes in the operating environment; and periodically, at least every 12 months, throughout the life of an activity or relationship. Regulated financial undertakings providing loan, credit, or other financial services should identify the adverse impacts only at the inception of the contract. When identifying adverse impacts, companies should also identify and assess the impact of a business relationship’s business model and strategies, including trading, procurement and pricing practices. Where the company cannot prevent, bring to an end or minimize all its adverse impacts at the same time, it should be able to prioritize its action, provided it takes the measures reasonably available to the company, taking into account the specific circumstances.
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. This Directive shall also apply to companies which are formed in accordance with the legislation of a third country, and fulfil one of the following conditions:have a domestic branch office or subsidiary in a Member State and which normally have at least 5000 employees worldwide and had a net worldwide turnover of more than EUR 150 million in the last financial year for which annual financial statements have been prepared;.
Amendment 188 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point a
Amendment 193 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point b
Amendment 195 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 3
Article 2 – paragraph 3
3. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the number of part-time employees shall be calculated on a full-time equivalent basis. Temporary agency workers shall be included in the calculation of the number of employees in the same way as if they were workers employed directly for the same period of time by the company.
Amendment 216 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) ‘valuesupply chain’ means activities related todirectly necessary for the production of goods or the provision of services by a company, including the development of the product or the service and the use and disposal of the product as well as the related activities of upstream and downstream established business relationships of the company. As regards companies within the meaning of point (a)(iv), ‘valuesupply chain’ with respect to the provision of these specific services shall only include the activities of the clients receiving such loan, credit, and other financial services and of other companies belonging to the same group whose activities are linked to the contract in question. The valuesupply chain of such regulated financial undertakings does not cover SMEs receiving loan, credit, financing, insurance or reinsurance of such entities;
Amendment 222 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point j
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point j
(j) ‘industry initiative’ means a combination of voluntary valuesupply chain due diligence procedures, tools and mechanisms, including independent third- party verifications, developed and overseen by governments, industry associations or groupings of interested organisthe Commission, governments, including the governments of developing countries, industry associations;
Amendment 227 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point n
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point n
(n) ‘stakeholders’ means the company’s employees, the employees of its subsidiaries, and other individuals, groups, communities or entities whose rights or interests are or could bedirectly affected by adverse human rights impacts and adverse environmental impacts arising from the products, services and operations of that company, its subsidiaries and its business relationships;
Amendment 271 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
As regards actual adverse impacts within the meaning of paragraph 1 that could not be brought to an end or the extent of which could not be minimised by the measures provided for in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, the company shall refrain from entering into new or extending existing relations with the partner in connection to or in the valuesupply chain of which the impact has arisen and shall, where the law governing their relations so entitles them to, take one of the following actions if they are in the best interest of the potential victims of the potential and actual adverse impacts, in line with responsible disengagement, taking into account proportionality and the consequences of disrupting supply chains:
Amendment 276 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – point a
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1 – point a
(a) temporarily suspend commercial relationships with the partner in question, while pursuing efforts to bring to an end or minimise the extent of the adverse impact, if there is reasonable expectation that these efforts will succeed in the short- term. If there is no such reasonable expectation or the efforts did not succeed in the short-term, the company shall terminate the business relationship or
Amendment 287 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2
Article 8 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2
Member States shall provide for the availability of an option to terminate and temporarily suspend the business relationship in contracts governed by their laws in accordance with the first subparagraph, except for contracts where the parties are obliged by law to enter into them.
Amendment 297 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that companies provide the possibility for persons and organisations listed in paragraph 2 to submit notifications or complaints to them where they have legitimate concernssufficient evidence regarding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts and adverse environmental impacts with respect to their own operations, the operations of their subsidiaries and their value chaindirect upstream business partners.
Amendment 301 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Companies shall be allowed to deal with notifications as a group, for example within a sectoral initiative, an industry programme or multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Amendment 305 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the company had more than 53000 employees on average, is not a financial institution and had a net worldwide turnover of more than EUR 1500 million in the last financial year for which annual financial statements have been prepared;
Amendment 314 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) persons who are affected or have reasonable groundssufficient evidence to believe that they might bare affected by an adverse impact,
Amendment 316 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) trade unions and other workers’ representatives representing individuals working in the value chain concernedcompany, their subsidiaries or their direct business partners, that are directly affected by an adverse impact,
Amendment 323 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point c
Amendment 328 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 3
Article 9 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that the companies establish a procedure for dealing with complaints referred to in paragraph 1, including a procedure when the company considers the complaint to be unfounded, and inform the relevant workers and trade unions of those procedures. Member States shall ensure that where the complaint is well-founded, the adverse impact that is the subject matter of the complaint is deemed to be identified within the meaning of Article 6.
Amendment 335 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a – point iv
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a – point iv
Amendment 341 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
In order to provide support to companies or to Member State authorities on how companies should fulfil their due diligence obligations, the Commission, in consultation with Member States and relevant stakeholders, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Agency for Small and Medium enterprises, the European Environment Agency, and where appropriate with international bodies having expertise in due diligence, may issue guidelines, including for specific sectors or specific adverse impacts. shall issue clear and comprehensive, guidelines, in digital, free of charge and easily accessible format, taking into account the needs of SMEs, including for specific sectors, specific adverse impacts. These guidelines shall also clarify how companies' obligations stemming from this Directive interact with obligations stemming from other Union legislation to ensure coherence and complementarity. The guidelines shall particularly take into account SMEs’ needs and shall enable administrative and financial assistance. The guidelines shall help companies, in particular SMEs, to fulfil their due diligence obligations in accordance with Articles 6 to 11, by providing guidance on how the requirements under different Union acts could be merged most efficiently. The Commission shall regularly review and update the guidelines taking into account the latest developments in the sectors concerned. Guidelines must be published 24 months before the provisions of this directive become applicable. These guidelines shall include the following: (a) for specific sectors or specific adverse impacts; (b) an overview on applicable industry initiatives, multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry schemes; (c) practical guidance on how proportionality and prioritisation, in terms of impacts, sectors and geographical areas, may be applied to due diligence obligations depending on the size and sector of the company; (d) lists of risk areas and non-risk areas whether sectoral or geographic such as a list of regions and countries where adverse human rights impacts and/or environmental adverse impacts are unlikely or likely to occur. Countries or regions, where adverse impacts are unlikely to occur, might be the European Economic Area, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. One criteria for this list shall be a free-trade agreement between the European Union and the third country or region.
Amendment 347 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Lists of non-risk areas and risk areas shall be updated continuously by the Commission and made publicly available, for example, in order to provide up-to- date information on the international Conventions and Treaties ratified by each of the Union’s trading partners. The Commission shall collect and publish trade and customs data on origins of raw materials, and intermediate and finished products, and publish information on human rights, environmental and governance potential or actual adverse impacts risks associated with certain countries or regions, sectors and sub- sectors, and products.
Amendment 358 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 3
Article 14 – paragraph 3
3. The Commission mayshall complement Member States’ support measures building on existing Union action to support due diligence in the Union and in third countries and mayshall devise new measures, including facilitation of joint stakeholder initiatives to help companies fulfil their obligations. as well as a non-exhaustive list of industry schemes the Commission deems fit.
Amendment 367 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 4
Article 14 – paragraph 4
4. Companies may rely on industry schemes and multi-stakeholder initiatives to support the implementation of their obligations referred to in Articles 5 to 11 of this Directive to the extent that such schemes and initiatives are appropriate to support the fulfilment of those obligations. The Commission and the Member States mayshall facilitate the dissemination of information on such schemes or initiatives and their outcome. The Commission, in collaboration with Member States, mayshall issue guidance for assessing the fitness of industry schemes and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Amendment 368 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Single Point of Contact 1.Each Member State shall designate a national single point of contact on corporate sustainability due diligence.Member States may assign this role to an existing authority.Where a Member State designates only one competent authority, that competent authority may also be the single point of contact. 2. Companies may seek guidance and obtain further support and information about how best to fulfil their due diligence obligations through this portal.3. The single point of contact may also exercise a liaison function to ensure cross-border cooperation of Member State authorities and with the relevant authorities in other Member States via cooperation with the European Supervisory Network established in Article 21.
Amendment 390 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) ‘value chain’ means activities related to the production of goods or the provision of services by a company, including the development of the product or the service and the use and disposal of the product as well as the related activities of upstream and downstream established business relationships of the company. As regards companies within the meaning of point (a)(iv), ‘value chain’ with respect to the provision of these specific services shall only include the activities of the clients receiving such loan, credit, and other financial services and of other companies belonging to the same group whose activities are linked to the contract in question. The value chain of such regulated financial undertakings does not cover SMEs receiving loan, credit, financing, insurance or reinsurance of such entities;
Amendment 409 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
No later than … [OP please insert the date = 75 years after the date of entry into force of this Directive], the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of this Directive. The report shall evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of this Directive in reaching its objectives and assess the following issues:
Amendment 417 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) whether the thresholds regarding the number of employees and net turnover laid down in Article 2(1) need to be loweredare appropriate;
Amendment 419 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 29 – paragraph 1 – point b
Amendment 803 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 5
Article 17 – paragraph 5