Europe – The drama has come to an end: The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) has finally been adopted.
Following multiple failed attempts in the last weeks, key EU member states, particularly France and Italy, whose votes were previously unknown, made sure that today's EU Council vote was a success.
The main adjustments the EU agreed on in the final text include:
- Reduced scope: The scope now includes companies with 1000 employees (up from 500) and a turnover of at least EUR 450 million (up from EUR 150 million)
- High-risk sector approach deleted: The concept of phasing in organizations that do not fulfill the scope criteria but operate in high-risk industries has been abandoned
- Staged application approach based on company size and turnover introduced
This means that around 70% fewer companies will affected by the EU Supply Chain Law than initially planned.
Next steps: The directive now needs to pass a final adoption vote by the European Parliament, which is expected during the Parliament’s plenary vote in April. Even though the EU Council was perceived as the largest obstacle, the outcome of the Parliament vote is still uncertain.