Global Witness strongly welcomes the announcement today from the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, that the Commission commits to introducing rules for mandatory cross sectoral corporate due diligence for all environmental, human rights and governance impacts next year.

The announcement came during a high level online event hosted by the European Parliament’s Responsible Business Conduct Working Group, during which the Commissioner presented the findings of the Commission study on due diligence requirements through supply chains.

This encouraging announcement is the result of a sustained campaign by civil society, including Global Witness, for the EU to introduce binding cross-sectoral laws requiring companies and financial institutions to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for human rights abuses and environmental damage linked to their operations, subsidiaries or value chains...

The EU needs to propose ambitious legislation if it is to meet its target to become climate neutral by 2030, and to ensure that companies operating in the EU are not profiting from human rights abuses, environmental destruction and corruption.

The German Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs was today very supportive of EU action...