EU: Verfassungsblog & German Institute for Human Rights hold CSDDD blog symposium; incl. pieces on stakeholder engagement, civil liability & administrative enforcement
The blog symposium "Unboxing the New EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" started on 24 May 2024 with an inaugural blog of the same title, authored by Franziska Oehm, German Institute for Human Rights:
[...] There is obviously a lot more to unpack in the final text of the Directive. The German Institute for Human Rights, with tremendous support from Verfassungsblog, and in particular Isabella Risini, offers analysis in a blog symposium, which starts with this contribution. A set of invited authors, who have been – in one way or the other – involved in the legislative process of this important business and human rights milestone. The contributions engage with the final text of the Directive and give some initial guidance for interpretation and transposition requirements. We will start with a critical reflection on the neo-colonial context of the law and the law-making process, the non-involvement of rightsholders mainly from the Global South and the outcome regarding stakeholder participation. Secondly, access to justice and administrative supervision measures for rightsholders will be put under scrutiny. Thirdly, the scope of human and environmental rights that are covered by the Directive will be examined. Fourthly, the transposition phase is in focus: accompanying measures, paired with comparative analysis in the context of existing national due diligence legislation, the extraterritorial reach of the Directive, and the involvement of National Human Rights Institutions, one of whom is the German Institute of Human Rights. The transposition and application of the Directive will dominate the agendas of business and human lawyers as well as environmental rights scholars and practitioners. This Symposium intends to provide an initial overview of some of the numerous questions that arise from this piece of legislation. [...]
Conclusion
The purpose of the law cannot be repeated often enough: protection of human and environmental rights, accountability for those violating such rights, and putting rightsholders at the center of debates. Has the outcome the potential to fulfill this purpose or will it be a paper tiger creating endless reporting obligations with little to no effect on human rights and environmental protection? Although some achievements on human rights and environmental protection got lost during political negotiations, the Directive has the potential to provide a good basis and to serve its purpose. Transposition into national legislation and effective implementation will be the key point for turning it into an effective tool for the protection of human rights and the environment.
Other contributions to the blog symposium "Unboxing the New EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" so far:
- "Harmonization Pains but Stakeholders’ Gain" by Caroline Omari Lichuma, 25 May 2025
- "Access to Supply Chain Justice?" by Anton Zimmermann, 27 May 2024
- "Conditions of Corporate Civil Liability in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" by Nicolas Bueno and Franziska Oehm, 28 May 2024
- "Administrative Enforcement of Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation" by Markus Krajewski, 29 May 2024
- "A Comparative Analysis between the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the French and German Legislation" by Claire Bright, Céline da Graça Pires, Michaela Streibelt and Daniel Schönfelder, 30 May 2024
- "National Human Rights Institutions – Critical but Overlooked Actors" by Mathilde Dicalou and Gabrielle Holly, 31 May 2024
- "Dividing the Indivisible", by Nele Meyer and Christopher Patz, 1 June 2024
- "Towards Planetary Boundaries for Business?" by Finn Robin Schufft, Ceren Yildiz and Anna Aseeva, 7 June 2024
- "From Paper to Practice" by Virginie Rouas, Julia Otten and Daniel Torán, 10 June 2024
- "New Wine in Old Bottles" by Virginie Rouas, Julia Otten and Daniel Torán, 10 June 2024
- "More of the same or true evolution?" by Padma-Dolma Fielitz, Melina Girardi Fachin and Danielle Anne Pamplona, 12 June 2024
- "The Unintended Consequences of Mandatory Due Diligence" by Radu Mares, 13 June 2024
- "The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive beyond Europe" by Humberto Cantú Rivera, 14 June 2024