The road to the adoption of the European Union’s (EU) Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was a long and winding one. Following years of work by EU institutions and continuous advocacy by civil society organizations, including trade unions, last-minute objections from some EU member states threatened to derail the process entirely. After making several major concessions to those states, the European Council adopted the CSDDD on June 13, 2024. Its adoption reflects an important step in the development of a legally-binding corporate accountability framework for human rights abuses. While including some improvements over the 2022 proposal of the European Commission (2022 Commission Proposal), the CSDDD contains serious (and potentially fatal) flaws. These flaws reflect significant deviations from the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as they relate to Pillar II—the responsibility to “respect” human rights. Thus, we have doubts as to whether the CSDDD will make a meaningful difference for the world’s workers and trade unions in practice.
Protecting Workers’ Rights in Global Supply Chains: Will the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Make a Meaningful Difference? (Vol. 57, Fall 2024)
10 Mar 2025