The Corporate Responsibility Directive has recently gained attention as it faces potential overturning by the Council of Member States. However, Finland played a key role in revising its content and the European Parliament finally approved it on Wednesday. This directive requires companies to adhere to a duty of care in their value chains, with the aim of addressing issues such as child labor, labor exploitation, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution.
The directive was passed by the European Parliament with 374 votes in favor, 235 against, and 19 abstentions. Green MEP Heidi Hautala expressed optimism about the outcome after working on the directive for a long time alongside Lara Wolters and Manon Aubryn. They starred in a documentary about its development.
Under this directive, companies with at least one thousand employees and a turnover of at least EUR 450 million are required to comply with the duty of care. Although there were some delays, the core legislation remained unchanged. In March, Belgium managed to secure support from member states after several attempts while holding the EU presidency at the time. The directive still awaits final approval from the Council of Member States before coming into effect.