Human Rights Watch says EU Commission waters down corporate rules
Summary
This accusation was made as the Commission published its proposal for an Omnibus regulation that would update its previous directive on EU’s corporate accountability law.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the European Commission of relaxing its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and two other corporate reporting and classification laws.
This accusation was made as the Commission, on 26 February 2025, published its proposal for an Omnibus regulation that would update its previous directive on EU’s corporate accountability law, which requires large corporations to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence in their global supply chains.
“Under the pretence of ‘simplifying’ rules for giant corporations, the Commission’s Omnibus proposal guts its own achievements on corporate accountability, a major abdication of principled leadership in advancing a sustainable and human rights-based economy,” said Hélène de Rengervé, senior advocate at HRW.
Rengervé said the proposed change would uproot key accountability tools that gave the law some teeth, including the ability of victims of corporate abuses in supply chains to sue them in European courts.
“The Commission is siding with powerful corporations rather than victims of corporate abuse around the world,” said Rengervé.
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