"Living income must be included in the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to tackle the root causes of human rights violations and environmental harm"

We, the undersigned Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and producer organisations, call on you to include living income and fair purchasing practices within the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) as included in the position of the European Parliament.

We welcome the CSDDD and its goal to address the human rights and environmental impacts of companies' global value chains. However, in order for it to lead to positive change, it must take into account the interests and needs of rightsholders, especially those in the most vulnerable position in global value chains. [...]

It is crucial that the CSDDD addresses the root causes of harm faced by these people, including unfair purchasing practices and lack of living income. In this regard, we welcome the explicit reference to living wages and a decent standard of living as a human right in Part I A of the Annex of the Commission’s proposal, as well within the Council’s General Approach and the Parliament’s position. However, unless a specific reference to living income is included as well, non-wage workers such as smallholders or selfemployed workers will not benefit from that provision. [...]

The European Parliament also underscores the need for companies to address their purchasing practices as part of the due diligence process, by including this obligation throughout articles 5-8, beyond a simple reference in recitals. As highlighted by several CSOs and companies, if companies are not required to adopt responsible purchasing practices, the right to living income and living wage is unlikely to materialise.

Therefore, we urge you to align with the European Parliament on these elements, by including an explicit reference to living income alongside living wage in the annex and referencing purchasing practices in the operative articles of the CSDDD. This way, you will enable millions of vulnerable rightsholders like small farmers and IPLCs to harness the potential of the CSDDD and to truly benefit from it. [...]