Progress: Procedure completed
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | JURI |
WOLTERS Lara ( S&D)
|
VOSS Axel ( EPP),
DURAND Pascal ( Renew),
HAUTALA Heidi ( Verts/ALE),
LEBRETON Gilles ( ID),
BUXADÉ VILLALBA Jorge ( ECR),
AUBRY Manon ( GUE/NGL)
|
| Committee Opinion | AFET |
GLUCKSMANN Raphaël ( S&D)
|
|
| Committee Opinion | DEVE |
TARABELLA Marc ( S&D)
|
|
| Committee Opinion | INTA |
LANGE Bernd ( S&D)
|
Luisa REGIMENTI ( ID)
|
| Committee Opinion | ECON |
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 47, RoP 57
Legal Basis:
RoP 47, RoP 57Subjects
Events
The European Parliament adopted 504 votes to 79, with 112 abstentions, a resolution with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability.
According to a Commission study, only 37% of business respondents currently conduct environmental and human rights due diligence. The adoption of due diligence frameworks and standards within the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OECD and the ILO are voluntary and consequently their uptake has been limited. EU legislation should progressively and constructively build on these frameworks and standards.
Binding measures at EU level
Members considered that the EU should urgently adopt binding requirements for undertakings to identify, assess, prevent, cease, mitigate, monitor, report, address and remedy potential and/or actual adverse impacts on human rights, the environment and good governance in their value chain.
Parliament called on the Commission to present a proposal for a directive on supply chain due diligence without delay. The resolution contains recommendations on the key elements of the proposed legislative initiative:
Scope
The scope of the future mandatory European due diligence framework should cover large undertakings governed by the law of a Member State or established on the territory of the Union and should also apply to all listed small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as to high-risk small and medium-sized enterprises.
Due diligence strategy
Under the proposed Directive, undertakings should:
- lay down rules to ensure that undertakings carry out effective due diligence with respect to potential or actual adverse impacts on human rights, the environment and good governance in their operations and business relationships;
- engage with stakeholders in good faith, in an effective, constructive and informed manner, when establishing and implementing their due diligence strategy;
- publish, in compliance with commercial confidentiality, the updated version of their compliance strategy or risk assessment statement and make it available to the public free of charge, in particular on their website;
- communicate their compliance strategy to workers' representatives and trade unions, as well as to the company's business relations and, on request, to one of the competent national authorities;
- evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of their due diligence strategy and its implementation at least once a year, and revise it whenever a revision is deemed necessary as a result of the evaluation;
- establish a complaints mechanism, both as an early warning of risks and as a mediation system, allowing any stakeholder to raise reasonable concerns about the existence of a potential or actual negative impact on human rights, the environment or good governance;
- provide or cooperate in a remediation process where they find that they have caused or contributed to an adverse impact.
Monitoring
Each Member State should designate one or more national competent authorities to monitor the application of the Directive and to disseminate best practice on due diligence. The designated national competent authorities should be independent and have the necessary human, technical and financial resources, premises and infrastructure, and expertise to carry out their duties effectively.
Member States' competent authorities could conduct investigations to ensure that undertakings comply with the obligations. This could include an examination of the undertaking's due diligence strategy, the functioning of the complaints mechanism, as well as on-site checks.
Guidelines
The Commission, in consultation with the Member States and the OECD, and with the assistance of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Environment Agency and the SME Executive Agency, should publish general non-binding guidelines for undertakings on how best to comply with due diligence obligations.
A specific portal for SMEs should be made available in the Member States to enable them to seek support and information on how best to comply with their obligations.
The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the legislative initiative report Lara WOLTERS (S&D) NL) with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability.
According to a Commission study, only 37% of business respondents currently conduct environmental and human rights due diligence. The adoption of due diligence frameworks and standards within the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OECD and the ILO are voluntary and consequently their uptake has been limited. EU legislation should progressively and constructively build on these frameworks and standards.
Members requested that the Commission submit without undue delay a legislative proposal on mandatory supply chain due diligence.
Binding measures
In this report, Members considered that the EU should urgently adopt binding requirements for undertakings to identify, assess, address, remediate and prevent potential and/or actual adverse impacts on human rights, the environment and good governance in their value chain. These binding requirements would enhance the reputation of EU undertakings and of the EU as a standard setter.
Traceability
Members called for supply chain traceability to be strengthened, based on the rules of origin of the Union Customs Code. The EU’s human rights policy and future corporate due diligence requirements adopted as a result of a legislative proposal from the Commission should be taken into account in the conduct of Union trade policy, including in relation to the ratification of trade and investment agreements and should cover trade with all trading partners, not just those with whom the EU has concluded a free trade agreement.
Broader scope
The report considered that the scope of any future mandatory EU due diligence framework should be broad and cover all large undertakings, including those providing financial services. They also considered that the framework should also cover undertakings which are established outside the EU but are active on the internal market.
Compliance
Compliance with the due diligence obligations should be a condition for access to the internal market and that operators should be required to establish and provide evidence, through the exercise of due diligence, that the products that they place on the internal market are in conformity with the environmental and human rights criteria set out in the future due diligence legislation. Complementary measures should be introduced such as the prohibition of the importation of products related to severe human rights violations such as forced labour or child labour.
Enforcing due diligence
Members considered that, to enforce due diligence, Member States should set up or designate national authorities to share best practices, carry out investigations, supervise and impose sanctions, taking into account the severity and repeated nature of the infringements.
The Commission is called on to set up a European due diligence network to be responsible for, together with the national competent authorities, the coordination and convergence of regulatory, investigative, enforcement and supervisory practices, and the sharing of information and to monitor the performance of national competent authorities.
Transparency
The report highlighted that comprehensive transparency requirements are a crucial element of legislation on mandatory due diligence. It called on the Commission to investigate new technological solutions supportive of establishing and improving traceability in global supply chains.
Grievance mechanisms
A grievance mechanism at the level of an undertaking can provide effective early-stage recourse, provided they are legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, human rights-compatible, based on engagement and dialogue, and protect against retaliation. Such private mechanisms must be properly articulated with judicial mechanisms to guarantee the highest protection of fundamental rights, including the right to a fair trial. Such mechanisms should never undermine the right of a victim to file a complaint before competent authorities or to seek justice before a court.
Documents
- Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament: T9-0073/2021
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Committee report tabled for plenary: A9-0018/2021
- Committee opinion: PE655.782
- Committee opinion: PE657.424
- Committee opinion: PE655.776
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.901
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.902
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.905
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.906
- Committee draft report: PE657.191
- Committee draft report: PE657.191
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.901
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.902
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.905
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE658.906
- Committee opinion: PE655.776
- Committee opinion: PE657.424
- Committee opinion: PE655.782
Activities
- Roberta METSOLA
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Andrus ANSIP
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Maria ARENA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Pascal DURAND
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Enikő GYŐRI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Heidi HAUTALA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Bernd LANGE
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Gilles LEBRETON
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Helmut SCHOLZ
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Marc TARABELLA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Tom VANDENKENDELAERE
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Kathleen VAN BREMPT
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Henna VIRKKUNEN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Axel VOSS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Lara WOLTERS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Manon AUBRY
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Anna CAVAZZINI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Mislav KOLAKUŠIĆ
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Grace O'SULLIVAN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Ibán GARCÍA DEL BLANCO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Karin KARLSBRO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Bettina VOLLATH
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Svenja HAHN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Marie TOUSSAINT
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Milan BRGLEZ
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Nicola BEER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Geert BOURGEOIS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Raphaël GLUCKSMANN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Pernille WEISS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Barry ANDREWS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Salvatore DE MEO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Dorien ROOKMAKER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Ernő SCHALLER-BAROSS
Plenary Speeches (1)
PPE
The Left
NI