Business and human rights, the directive already almost buried

By Camille Frati, Lex Kleren, Sana Murad Switch to French for original article

Adopted after bitter negotiations, the European Directive on the Duty of Vigilance for Businesses (CSDD) has not yet been transposed into national law, but it is already being radically undermined by pressure from large companies and certain governments against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

Sometimes progress accelerates, sometimes it comes to a screeching halt. This seems to be the case with the CSDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence) directive. It was intended to bring about a major improvement in the human rights and environmental situation by obliging companies – the biggest ones first – to take responsibility for any violations in their supply chain, from raw materials to finished products. As is often the case, it took a major tragedy to shock the world. It happened on 24 April 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when a building housing textile subcontractors collapsed, killing 1,200 people. This has prompted France and Germany to introduce legislation, the former in 2017 and the latter in 2021. Emmanuel Macron, Minister of the Economy and then President of the Republic in France, was proud of this.

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