JURI committee adopts position on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

This Tuesday 25 April, the JURI committee of the European Parliament adopted its position on the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive with 19 votes against 3, and 3 abstentions.

The draft directive mandates that companies minimize their adverse effects on people and the environment by identifying and, if necessary, preventing, terminating, or mitigating their negative impacts and those of their value chain partners on human rights and the environment, including issues such as child labour, worker exploitation, pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

Following weeks of negotiations in Parliament, a political agreement was reached just a few days ago, leading to a committee-level vote on Tuesday.

Cooperatives Europe welcomes this vote as it aligns with cooperatives’ core values of human dignity, collective ownership, and democratic governance. We are particularly glad to see that the compromised text excludes the downstream use of products or services from the scope and does not disproportionately expand the directors’ duties, thus making the legislation more practical and feasible for our SME cooperatives.

However, concerns remain regarding the directive’s potential trickle-down effects on smaller players like SMEs and the inclusion of the financial sector. We will remain vigilant for the next phase of the negotiations which will take place in the Council. The Parliament will finalize its position on the matter during the next plenary session (31 May – 1 June) before sending the file to the Council for another round of negotiations with Member States’ representatives.