The European Council gives the green light to the directive on companies’ obligations in relation to the human rights and environmental impacts of their activities

On May 24, the European Council approved the corporate sustainability due diligence directive at a Competitiveness Council meeting. This new and final step in the European legislative procedure follows adoption of the proposal for a directive by the European Parliament at the last plenary session of the ninth legislature, held in April (as we reported here). Obtaining the European Council’s green light brings the directive to the end of a long procedure at EU institutions and the only remaining step now is its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

For a great many companies, the directive will impose the obligation to identify, prevent, mitigate, eliminate and repair adverse human rights and environmental impacts, liability for breaching those obligations, and the requirement for them to adopt and put into effect a climate change transition plan.

At Garrigues we have analyzed every step in this very significant new legislation for companies. Besides analyzing the directive in various publications, we have organized roundtables with experts to discuss this subject. You can access here the 'Garrigues Sustainable Dialogue' where we analyze the key aspects of the new directive. Or to this other dialogue from last December, where we highlighted the challenge that all this will pose for organizations.