Today the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs voted to adopt its position amending the European Union’s landmark corporate accountability law that will seriously curtail efforts to mitigate the impact of businesses on human rights and the environment.
The “Omnibus I” proposal severely undermines essential elements of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in July 2024, that requires companies to detect and address human rights and environmental harm throughout their supply chains.
The new limitations, proposed by Jurgen Warborn, a member of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), appointed by the Committee on Legal Affairs as lead negotiator on the file in its compromise text, narrow the scope of the law to apply only to companies with more than 5,000 employees and a turnover of at least €1,5 billion. This would reduce the number of companies covered by the law by over 72% and would exclude most large companies operating or based in the EU.
Warborn’s compromise text also eliminates the law’s requirement for the EU to develop an EU-wide civil liability regime, increasing the complexity for victims, companies, and judges alike as they face navigating potentially hundreds of divergent legal regimes.
Several other political groups in the European Parliament supported Warborn’s compromise text only after he threatened the EPP would vote with far right parties to further undermine the law. Civil society organizations, including SOMO and Human Rights Watch, have documented the role of industry associations and European and US fossil fuel companies in pushing for the Omnibus I proposal. In contrast, an October 2 poll by Ipsos found that EU citizens support holding large companies accountable for human rights and environmental harm across their global value chains. Dozens of companies and investors have also expressed support for strong corporate due diligence requirements.
Lawmakers should spare no effort in the next phase of the negotiation to strengthen the law and possibly reintroduce civil liability at the European level. Not doing so would rubberstamp a race to the bottom that would have real, global consequences.