Eurochambres position on the Proposal for Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

Eurochambres reiterates that sustainability is at the heart of businesses activities and is key to ensuring long-term economic growth. European businesses are ready to commit to an even stronger responsible business conduct if EU institutions adopt a well-balanced regulatory framework on corporate due diligence.

However, Chambers consider that the Commission’s proposal on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence does not guarantee the legal certainty and harmonisation needed in terms of scope, reporting standards, liability, and enforcement modalities. The proposal also adds considerable administrative and regulatory burden, and without the proper adjustments to make it workable, may have a real social cost at a time of long-lasting disruptions, delays and protracted supply shortages affecting the Single Market.

Finally, Chambers consider that the proposal falls short to deliver the necessary level playing field in a globalised economy where less scrupulous competitors wait to take over market shares that EU businesses will be obliged to abandon once compliance with EU standards of protection has been proven unattainable. Chambers therefore urge the co-legislators to fully reconsider how such short-sightedness might in reality affect the level of protection in certain regions of the world that the proposal intended to serve and enhance.