BHR lawyers and practitioners call for support for the Belgium compromise on the CSDDD
We are Business and Human Rights (BHR) lawyers and practitioners that work with companies, academia, NGOs and state institutions to implement human rights and environmental due diligence in order to foster responsible and sustainable business practices that uphold respect for human rights and environmental standards throughout global value chains.
Stakeholders involved in this field and their representatives both in the European Union and beyond have repeatedly expressed a shared desire to formalize in a EU-level legislation the core elements of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) which were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 and have become the global norm of reference in the field. A growing number of countries, both within the EU and beyond, have already taken steps to implement the UNGPs. Following in their footsteps, the Draft Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD) aims to require companies to respect human rights and environmental standards in their activities and in their value chain. In doing so, it will not only be a step towards alignment with international standards set out in the UNGPs and other international instruments, but it will also provide more legal certainty by resulting in a uniformized standard at the EU level rather than a patchwork of legislation with varying standards in the various Member States.
The current draft of the CSDDD covers both large EU companies and companies based outside the EU which are active in the EU market. As such, the CSDDD creates a harmonized set of rules for all large companies operating in the EU, providing a much needed global level playing field and upholding the protection of all internationally recognized human rights.
We have carefully examined the most recent compromise offered by the Belgian Presidency and call on all Member States to accept it. This call is despite the fact that the changes introduced in the last few weeks significantly reduce the scope of the applicability of the CSDDD.
Indeed, even though many important provisions protecting human rights and the environment have been diluted, the current compromise for CSDDD still provides for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) across the supply chain, climate transition, rightsholder engagement and redress. It is feasible for companies, as it creates an obligation of means and implementable obligations, allowing companies to prioritize through a risk-based approach. The compromise also avoids overburdening SMEs as it does not cover them and ensures special support and protections for SME suppliers. We hope that those businesses for whom HREDD is still quite a new topic might welcome this compromise as workable.
We understand that in a political organization as complex and important as the EU, especially in the difficult context worldwide, a compromise is a necessity and politics will always be the art of the possible.
Therefore, we believe the Belgian proposal to be a necessary compromise.
In this perspective, we call on all EU Member States to support the latest CSDDD compromise made by the Belgian Presidency of the EU and, for this, we call on BHR experts from the EU and from around the world to signal their support for this version.
This compromise is an important step for our collective aspirations for business practices, which are transparent and committed to respecting human rights and the environment and contributes to give the “human face to the market” through respect of fundamental rights of people that Kofi Annan and John Ruggie have tirelessly defended through the UNGPs.
Let us not waste this chance, but adopt it, to enable a fairer and more inclusive economy which reconciles Business and Human Rights and the dignity of people, to ensure that business serves not only profits but people and the planet.
Stéphane Brabant – France
Céline Da Graça Pires – France
Daniel Schönfelder – Germany
Theresa Gigov – Austria/Germany
Serra Cremer Iyi – Germany
Michaela Streibelt – Germany
Claire Bright – France
Juho Saloranta – Finland
Lisa Szeponik – Germany
Martijn Scheltema – Netherlands
Beata Faracik – Poland
James Sinclair – United Kingdom
Lara Douvartzidis – Australia
Gilles Lhuilier – France
John Sherman – USA
Eugénie Denat – France
Pam Ly – USA
Markus Krajewski – Germany
Olena Uvarova – Ukraine
Arnaud de Nanteuil – France
Daniel Iglesias Márquez – Mexico
Caroline Omari Lichuma – Kenya/Luxembourg
Salli Swartz – France/USA
Roberto Randazzo – Italy
Michael D. Goldhaber – USA
Angelica Bonfanti- Italy
Elise Groulx Diggs – Canada
Laura Íñigo Álvarez- Spain
Maria Izabel Cardozo – Switzerland/ Brazil
Alison Berthet – United Kingdom/France
Gilles de Sorbay – France
Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan – France
Jernej Letnar Černič – Slovenia
Claire de Hauteclocque – France
Carmen Márquez Carrasco – Spain
Doug Cassel – USA
Nicola Bonucci – France/Italy
Don DeAmicis – USA
Stephanie Borowiec – Germany
Çiğdem Çımrın – Türkiye
Pınar Kara – France/Turkiye
Cecilia Barral Diego – Germany
Clara Pacce P. Serva – Brazil
Roxana Family – France
Nadia Bernaz – Netherlands
Victoria de Mello – Ethiopia
Eckart von Malsen – Paris
Antoine Heuty – France
Nora Wolters – Germany
Scott Wilson Badenoch, Jr. – USA
François de Cambiaire – France
Sébastien Mabile – France
Olivia Windham Stewart – United Kingdom
Julián Tole Martinez – Colombia
Jose Fernando Gómez Rojas – Colombia
Bartosz Kwiatkowski – Poland
Estelle Levin-Nally – Guernesey
Nina Luzzatto Gardner – USA
Weronika Nalbert – Poland
András L. Pap – Hungary
Farid Baddache – France
Marco Fasciglione – Italy
Paul M Redmond – United Kingdom
Tricia D. Olsen – USA
Edie Hofmeister – USA
Claire Lynch – United Kingdom
Chip Pitts – USA
Bonny Ling – United Kingdom
Larry Catá Backer – USA
Anna Triponel – United Kingdom
Vanessa Zimmerman – Australia
Yvonne Khor – Malaysia
Gurgen Petrossian – Germany
Joanne Bauer – USA
Elisa Giuliani – Italy
Rita Delgado Correcher – Spain
Samentha Goethals – France
Justine Nolan – Australia
Andreas Rasche – Denmark
Nicolas Bueno – Switzerland
Marta Bordignon – Italy
Klaus Eisenreich – Cyprus
Tomasz Wróblewski – Poland
Maria Pia Sacco – Italy
Tara van Ho – United Kingdom
Diana Sanabria – Germany/Colombia
Daisuke Takahashi – Japan
Tatjana Klaus-Nowak – Germany
Mārtiņš Birģelis – Latvia
Alise Artamonova – Latvia
Laura Valle – Italy
Olya Peneva – Bulgaria
Leonard Feld – Denmark
Chiara Macchi – Netherlands
Richard sedillot – France
Tone Sørfonn Moe – Norway
Theresa Quiachon – Germany
Anil Yilmaz Vastardis – United Kingdom
Ana Maria Uribe Restrepo – United Kingdom / Colombia
Johanna Imiela – Germany
Claire Deniau – France
Liesbeth Unger – Netherlands
Cathrine Bloch Veiberg – Denmark
Peter Muchlinski – United Kingdom
Colleen Theron – United Kingdom
Richard Gardiner – Ireland
Larissa Dietrich – Germany
Karin Buhmann – Denmark
Gabrielle Holly – Denmark/Australia/United Kingdom
Ioana Tuta – Denmark
Anna Czornik-Sęczkowska – Poland
Lori Stamm – Costa Rica
Jenny Vaughan – United States
Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt – United States
Anita Dorett – United States / Singapore
Sarah Dadush – United States
Florencia Wegher Osci – Argentina
Manon Wolfkamp – The Netherlands