Introduced in February 2022, the European Commission’s proposal for a directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence places industry schemes, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and third-party auditing at the heart of the due diligence process. It allows companies to rely on these mechanisms to demonstrate compliance with their newly defined human rights and environmental due diligence obligations and, in certain circumstances, to use them as a legal defence against charges of liability.

The European Coalition for Corporate Justice contributed to this briefing by our member SOMO, which is intended to inform policymakers and civil society why the Commission’s approach is ill-conceived and risks replicating and crystallising in law a decades-long approach to corporate social and sustainability compliance.