Activities of Lara WOLTERS related to 2022/0051(COD)
Plenary speeches (5)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (debate)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (debate)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (A9-0184/2023 - Lara Wolters) (vote)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (A9-0184/2023 - Lara Wolters) (vote)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (A9-0184/2023 - Lara Wolters) (vote)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937
Amendments (21)
Amendment 312 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Companies should take appropriate steps to set up and carry out due diligence measures, with respect to their own operations, products and services, those of their subsidiaries, as well as their established direct and indirect business relationships throughout their value chains in accordance with the provisions of this Directive. This Directive should not require companies to guarantee, in all circumstances, that adverse impacts will never occur or that they will be stopped. For example with respect to business relationships where the adverse impact results from State intervention, the company might not be in a position to arrive at such results. As a result, in this situation there is no reasonable prospect of change, and therefore the company should be required to terminate the business relationship with respect to the activities concerned. Therefore, the main obligations in this Directive should be ‘obligations of means’. The company should take the appropriate measures which can reasonably be expected to result in prevention or minimisation of the adverse impact under the circumstances of the specific case. Account should be taken of the specificities of the company’s value chain, sector or geographical area in which its value chain partners operate, the company’s power to influence its direct and indirect business relationships, and whether the company could increase its power of influence.
Amendment 356 #
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, wearing apparel, leather and related products (including footwear), and the wholesale trade and retail of textiles, clothing and footwear; agriculture, forestry, fisheries (including aquaculture), the manufacture of food products, marketing and advertising of food and beverages, and the wholesale trade of agricultural raw materials, live animals, animal products, wood, food, and beverages; energy, the extraction, transport and handling 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 liabi, construction and related activities, the provision of financial services, such as loans, credits, financing, pensions, market funding, risk management, payment services, securitisation, insurance or reinsurance, investment services and activities and other financial services; and the production, provision and distribution of information and communication technologies or related services, including hardware, device or component manufacturers, software solutions, including artificial intelligence, surveillance, facial recognition, data storage or processing, telecommunication services, including internet service providers or exchange points, web-based and cloud-based services, including social media and networking, messaging, e- commerce, delivery, mobility, and other platform services, and tourism and hospitality.
Amendment 389 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) In line with international standards, prevention and mitigation as well as bringing to an end and minimisation of adverse impacts should take into account the interests of those adversely impacted. In order to enable continuous engagement with the value chain business partner instead of termination of business relations (disengagement) and possibly exacerbating adverse impacts, this Directive should ensure that disengagement is a last-resort action, in line with the Union`s policy of zero-tolerance on child labour. Terminating a business relationship in which child labour was found could expose the child to even more severe adverse human rights impacts. This should therefore be taken into account when deciding on the appropriate action to take, and disengagement should be avoided where the impact of disengagement would be greater than the adverse impact the company is seeking to prevent or mitigate. In situations of state-imposed forced labour, where the adverse impact is systemic and organized by political authorities, unhindered engagement with those adversely impacted and mitigation are not possible. This Directive should ensure that companies terminate a business relationship where state-imposed forced labour is systemic.
Amendment 467 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 56
Recital 56
(56) In order to ensure effective compensation of victims of adverse impacts, Member States should be required to lay down rules governing the civil liability of companies for damages arising due to its failure or the failure of a company under its control, to comply with the due diligence process. The company should be liable for damages if they failed to comply with the obligations to prevent and mitigate potential adverse impacts or to bring actual impacts to an end and minimistigate their extent, or provide remediation, and as a result of this failure the company caused or contributed to an adverse impact that should have been identified, prevented, mitigated, remediated, brought to an end or its extent minimised through the appropriate measures occurred and led to damage, and led to damage. The company should also be liable for failures by a company under its control. A company should be considered under the control of another company where the latter has the possibility to exercise decisive influence on another company, in particular through ownership or the right to use all or part of the assets of the latter, or through rights or contracts or any other means, having regard to all factual considerations, which confer decisive influence on the composition, voting or decisions of the decision making bodies of an undertaking. For example, a company may be considered as exercising decisive influence on another through franchise agreements, where the franchisor exercises control over the use of the trademark and know how that are licensed, as well as license agreements, subcontracting agreements or outsourcing agreements.
Amendment 526 #
2. This Directive shall not constitute grounds for reducing the level of protection of human rights, including trade union, workers' or social rights, or of protection of the environment or the protection of the climate provided for by the law of Member States, or by collective agreements applicable, at the time of the adoption of this Directive.
Amendment 543 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the company had more than 2500 employees on average and had a net worldwide turnover of more than EUR 1540 million in the last financial year for which annual financial statements have been prepared, including turnover generated through vertical agreements in return for payment of royalties;
Amendment 553 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – introductory part
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – introductory part
(b) the company did not reach the thresholds under point (a), but had more than 250 employees on average and had a net worldwide turnover of more than EUR 408 million in the last financial year for which annual financial statements have been prepared, including turnover generated through vertical agreements in return for payment of royalties, provided that at least 530% of this net turnover was generated in one or more of the following sectors:
Amendment 568 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point iii a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point b – point iii a (new)
(iiia) Tourism and hospitality, including hotels, holiday, short-stay and other similar accommodation;
Amendment 694 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point e – introductory part
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point e – introductory part
(e) ‘business relationship’ means a relationship withbetween on the one hand a company or its subsidiaries, and on the other hand a contractor, subcontractor, franchisee or any other legal entities (‘partner’) in its value chain, irrespective of whether the relationship is direct or indirect
Amendment 792 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point q a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point q a (new)
(qa) 'leverage' means the ability to affect change in the practices of the entity causing the adverse impact, or which may cause the adverse impact as outlined in OECD due diligence guidance;
Amendment 793 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point q b (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point q b (new)
(qb) ‘contribute to’ means that a company's activities, in combination with the activities of other entities, cause an impact, or that the activities of the company cause, facilitate or incentivise another entity to cause an adverse impact. The contribution has to be substantial, meaning that minor or trivial contributions are excluded. Assessing the substantial nature of the contribution and understanding when the actions of the company may have caused, facilitated or incentivised another entity to cause an adverse impact can involve the consideration of multiple factors. The following factors can be taken into account: – the extent to which a company may encourage or motivate an adverse impact by another entity, i.e. the degree to which the activity increased the risk of the impact occurring, – the extent to which a company could or should have known about the adverse impact or potential for adverse impact, i.e. the degree of foreseeability, – the degree to which any of the company's activities actually mitigated the adverse impact or decreased the risk of the impact occurring. The mere existence of a business relationship or activities which create the general conditions in which it is possible for adverse impacts to occur does not in itself constitute a relationship of contribution. The activity in question should substantially increase the risk of adverse impact;
Amendment 867 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Member States shall ensure that undertakings allocate sufficient resources, including financial and human resources, to the implementation of the due diligence policy.
Amendment 1228 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Requirements on companies to report on their due diligence process established in Directive 2013/34/EU shall be understood as a requirement for companies to describe how they conduct due diligence as provided for in Article 4. When fulfilling the requirements of Directive 2013/34/EU to report on actions taken to identify potential or actual adverse, companies shall disclose the mapping of their individual operations, subsidiaries and business relationships, and explain whether they prioritised the order in which they took appropriate measures , how that approach was applied, and why it was necessary to prioritise. Member States shall ensure that companies that are not subject to reporting requirements under Articles 19a and 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU report on the matters covered by this Directive by publishing on their website an annual statement in a language customary in the sphere of international business. The statement shall be published by 30 April each year, covering the previous calendar year.
Amendment 1235 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 2
Article 11 – paragraph 2
The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 28 concerning the content and criteria for such reporting under paragraph 1, specifying information on the description of due diligence, its design and methodology, potential and actual adverse impacts and actions taken on those. This reporting should be accessible and sufficiently detailed to demonstrate it complied with the obligations under this Directive.
Amendment 1302 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. The company shall be responsible for assessing the reliability and quality of any initiative or independent third party verification provider that they use or participate in, and the accuracy and quality of the information they receive or activities undertaken by the initiative or verification provider.
Amendment 1304 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 4 b (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Where a company chooses to use an initiative or third party verification provider to assess or verify the due diligence practices of its subsidiaries or business partners, or its own due diligence, in accordance with this Directive, Member States shall ensure that the relevant due diligence assessment report is published in a timely manner, with reasonable detail about the assessment, the adequacy of the assessed entity’s due diligence against the requirements of this Directive and the main assessment findings.
Amendment 1362 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 2
Article 18 – paragraph 2
2. A supervisory authority may initiate an investigation on its own motion or as a result of substantiated concerns communicated to it pursuant to Article 19, where it considers that it has sufficient information indicating a possible breach by a company of the obligations provided for in the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, or possible misconduct by an entity engaged in third-party verification, an industry initiative or multi-stakeholder initiatives which may lead to a breach by an undertaking of these provisions.
Amendment 1420 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 1
Article 20 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall lay down the rules on sanctions applicable to infringements, and misconduct leading to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, including resulting from the investigations set out in Article 18, and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The sanctions provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
Amendment 1489 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 22 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Member States shall ensure that auditors can be held jointly liable if: (a) faulty audits contributed to a failure of the company to comply with the obligations laid down in Articles 7 and 8 and; (b) as a result of this failure an adverse impact that should have been identified, prevented, mitigated, brought to an end or its extent minimised through the appropriate measures laid down in Articles 7 and 8 occurred and led to damage.
Amendment 1514 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 22 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. The courts of Member States shall accept prima facie evidence that an entity is under the control or the ability to control of a company, unless the company can prove otherwise.
Amendment 1529 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 4
Article 22 – paragraph 4
4. The civil liability rules under this Directive shall be without prejudice to Union or national rules on civil liability, including rules on joint and several liability, related to adverse human rights impacts or to adverse environmental impacts that provide for liability in situations not covered by or providing for stricter liability than this Directive. The civil liability rules under this Directive shall neither exclude nor limit companies' liability under Union or national legal systems regarding civil liability.