EU: Leaked draft omnibus proposal includes several changes "significantly" watering down due diligence rules, in move deemed "reckless" by experts
“Brussels plans sweeping cuts to EU’s green rules, leaked bill reveals”
…The European Commission will propose deep cuts to the European Union's environmental reporting rule book…according to a section of a draft of the upcoming omnibus legislation …
…a large cohort of businesses could be exempt from complying with corporate sustainability reporting rules, bringing only the largest companies under the regulations, the leaked document shows…
“If confirmed, this is reckless," Maria van der Heide, head of EU policy at NGO ShareAction…
According to the leaked draft, the Commission suggests making eight changes to the due diligence rules to significantly water them down, including asking businesses only to look at their direct suppliers and not further along their supply chains…
Changes to the CSRD, meanwhile, would see the law's implementation delayed by a year…
Companies would no longer have to look beyond suppliers with which they have a direct business relationship. The frequency at which they are expected to monitor suppliers would be reduce to once every five years, down from annually…
In addition, companies would no longer be forced to terminate that relationship with suppliers that fail to improve their behavior…
The proposed changes also limit the scope of the term “stakeholder,”…