What could have been a day to celebrate, has turned into a day full of disappointment. On February 28, 2024, the European Council blocked the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) after the vote had been postponed due to insufficient support, as reported by Reuters. Thirteen out of the 27 member states voted against the law or abstained from the vote, leaving the ‘qualified majority’ of 15 countries short of one.

A timeline of events

The CSDDD has been in the works for around two years and promises the establishment of due diligence standards that companies with more than 500 employees have to meet, including upholding human rights in their supply chains and subsidiaries.

• December 2023: Agreement on the CSDDD was reached in the European Council. The European Parliament already announced its support, so we are optimistic.
• January 2024: Germany announces that it will abstain from the vote and lobbies other countries to follow suit. The passing of the law is threatened.
• February 9, 2024: The vote on the CSDDD was pulled from the agenda as it became evident that the likelihood of it passing was too low.
• February 28, 2024: The postponed vote took place, but there was not sufficient support for it to be endorsed by the Council. France proposed to reduce the number of impacted companies from 15,000 to 1,400, making it a requirement to report and act on human rights and environmental abuses only for companies with 5,000+ employees, as shared by Euractiv.

“This is no time for political games by the member states. The legislation must be effective to deal with the issue at hand.” – Ilan de Basso, Swedish MEP for S&D group

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