The Directive is a crucial tool for climate and social justice. Without binding due diligence rules, companies will continue to put profit over people, as seen in deadly textile factory collapses, mining disasters, and toxic pesticide exposure.
- 2 min read
- Published: 26th February 2025
New EU Commission proposal turns supply chain law into empty shell
Berlin, 26.02.2025. The EU Commission has just presented its plans for the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) as part of the omnibus legislation. The proposal includes catastrophic changes to civil liability provisions and a shift away from climate protection legislations – ultimately dismantling the core of the EU’s Supply Chain Directive.
The proposal put forward by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen significantly weakens existing European supply chain regulations, affecting both environmental standards and human right obligations that companies must uphold along their global supply chains.
"The removal of civil liability equates to a loss of hard-fought legal recourse for survivors, who would finally have been able to litigate for years of fundamental human rights violations. For instance, they could have taken companies to court over health damage caused by pesticide use on banana plantations."
"With the omnibus package, Commission President von der Leyen is taking a chainsaw to environmental and human rights protections. The Directive is a milestone for fairer globalisation. Without binding due diligence obligations, companies will not take responsibility – something the disasters of recent years have made painfully clear: collapsing textile factories, dam failures in mining, and pesticide poisoning on banana plantations."
— Franziska Humbert, lawyer and Policy Advisor at Oxfam
A retreat from responsibility would be disastrous. The CSDDD is a response to decades of turning a blind eye and sends a clear message: Those who profit from international markets must also protect people and the environment. Undermining the law’s core obligations would harm not only the people in producing countries but also the EU’s credibility as an economic partner.
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For more information, please contact:
Kate Brayden, Media Officer - Oxfam Ireland
kate.brayden@oxfam.org
+353 977 49 7447
Melissa Cooke, Content Coordinator – Oxfam Ireland
melissa.cooke@oxfam.org
+353 (0) 87 486 3077
