What was once hailed as a significant step towards global corporate responsibility is now losing much of its edge. The EU wants to significantly reduce its rules for protecting human rights in international supply chains. Instead of broad corporate obligations, exceptions are now the rule.
After months of negotiations, it is now clear that only very large companies - those with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of at least 1.5 billion euros - will be subject to the new regulations in future. The originally planned inclusion of medium-sized companies has been dropped. The law is also not scheduled to come into force until 2028.
This means that little remains of the once ambitious plan. Although the goal of preventing exploitation such as child or forced labour has not officially been abandoned, the path to achieving this goal has been significantly shortened. The EU Commission expects that around 80 per cent of the companies previously affected will fall outside the scope of the new thresholds.
Criticism comes promptly from human rights and environmental organisations. They accuse the EU of bowing to pressure from economic interests. Instead of demanding responsibility throughout the entire supply chain, companies will in future only have to scrutinise their direct business partners. Transparency obligations are also to be relaxed - except in the case of particularly risky supply relationships.
Although the final decision has yet to be made, the political course is clear: in future, the EU will focus on voluntary action rather than binding rules when it comes to global justice. For many, this is a step backwards at a time when fair supply chains are more urgent than ever.
Source: https://www.onlinehaendler-news.de/