All you need to know about CSDDD

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will require very large companies to conduct adequate due diligence to identify and assess, prevent, mitigate and bring to an end negative impacts on people and the planet generated by companies’ operations or those of their chain of activities.

The CSDDD responds to society’s increasing urge to understand the consequences of economic activities and aims to level the playing field for companies operating in the EU. It comes in the wake of a proliferation of due diligence requirements at the country-level, such as the “Loi sur le devoir de vigilance” in France or the “Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz”, or LsKG, in Germany, and at the EU-level for specific products, such as the EU Battery Regulation or the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation.

The requirements set out in the CSDDD constitute a lowest common denominator of what will be expected of very large companies in each EU Member State; every country will be able to go farther in terms of due diligence requirements, as specified in Article 4.2 of the Directive. On the other hand, there is also concern that countries that already have due diligence laws in place, like France and Germany as mentioned above, will revise their laws to make them less stringent or cover fewer companies in line with the CSDDD. In theory, however, Article 1.2 the EU Due Diligence Directive prohibits Member States from reducing their current level of protection of labour, human rights and environmental standards.

Here is what you can read in our guide:

• What is the timeline of the CSDDD?
• When will affected companies have to comply?
• What is the scope of the CSDDD in terms of the value chain?
• What are the steps to follow to comply with the CSDDD?
• What are the consequences of non-compliance?
• How does the CSDDD compare to the “Loi Sur Le Devoir De Vigilance” and the “LsKG”?
• Who must comply with the CSDDD?
• And more…

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