A new law passed a year and a half ago regarding the social and environmental “duty of vigilance” for large companies saw its scope reduced, Thursday, November 13, in the European Parliament in Brussels. The European Parliament approved, by 382 votes to 249, a reduction in the ambitions of the text, by limiting the number of associated companies and by removing some of their obligations.
Under penalty of sanctions, this law passed in April 2024 requires companies with more than 1,000 employees to prevent and remediate human rights violations (child labor, forced labor, safety, etc.) and environmental damage throughout their value chains, including at their suppliers worldwide.
The European Parliament raised the threshold for companies concerned to have more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros. The European Parliament abolished the European civil liability regime, which served to harmonize the obligations of companies and their responsibilities before the courts in the event of violations.
Lawmakers prefer to stick to each country’s laws. They also gave up on the climate transition plans that companies were supposed to provide. Brussels wants to go further and make the revision of this text one of the first acts of its “simplification” policy to reduce the administrative burden of companies on the continent.
A comfortable alliance between the right and the extreme right
Therefore, in contrast to the traditional so-called “pro-European” majority, the alliance of the right-wing groups (EPP) with extreme right-wing groups has led to protests from other groups. The vote sounds like a wake-up call for the pro-European camp, as Parliament begins to consider a series of texts on “simplifying” business life.
The far right makes no mistakes and enjoys a “big win” THURSDAY. “Another majority is possible”, “this is just the beginning”launched the Patriotes group, headed by Jordan Bardella.
The law is “completely empty” now, deplores the centrist Pascal Canfin. This vote happened “during COP30” in Brazil and “is a major setback for private sector climate action”he believes. On the right, Member of the European Parliament François-Xavier Bellamy argues instead that this “simplification” allows for “save our business from normative suffocation”.
After this vote, negotiations will begin with member states, with the aim of definitively adopting the revised and improved legislation. Environmental organizations are also on the attack “industrial lobby” oppose this law. The absence of European civil liability poses risks “a competition between the 27 member states to see who has the loosest regime in trying to attract business”specifically warned Swann Bommier, about NGO Bloom.
