"Recommendations For New EU Legislation on Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence", 24 June 2020

We are writing to draw your attention to Human Rights Watch’s key recommendations for elements to be included in new EU legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, including on climate change. We welcome the Commission’s and the European Parliament’s commitments and initiatives towards that goal...

[W]e urge you to ensure that the new EU legislation eventually adopted:

- Requires business enterprises to respect internationally recognized human rights...
- Broadly applies to all business entities across all sectors...
- Mandates that business enterprises conduct effective human rights and environmental due diligence, including on climate change...
- Requires full transparency in value chains;
- Includes a European enforcement mechanism, ensuring it has adequate budget and resources to support effective implementation;
- Incentivizes compliance and foresees clear consequences for non-compliance, including penalties; and
- Creates a civil course of action and access to judicial remedies.

Please find our detailed recommendations for the legislation in the annex to this letter...