EU: Commission's Omnibus proposal is full-scale deregulation designed to dismantle corporate accountability, says ECCJ
"EU Commission’s Omnibus proposal is full-scale deregulation designed to dismantle corporate accountability," 26 February 2025
Today, Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, and for Implementation and Simplification, Valdis Dombrovskis announced the much-anticipated Omnibus package on sustainability, a sweeping deregulation initiative targeting the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the Taxonomy Regulation.
Despite warnings from civil society and trade unions that the Omnibus proposal would create costly confusion and weaken protections for people and the planet, as well as opposition from businesses and investors, the EU Commission has persisted in its plan to retrace core elements of these legislations designed to fight against climate change and corporate abuse. If adopted as it stands, the Omnibus proposal would deliver a devastating blow to the EU’s commitments to climate neutrality under the Paris Agreement and its pledge to uphold human rights on the global stage...
What's at stake: A betrayal to those who the CSDDD aimed to protect
Today’s changes proposed by the European Commission are nothing short than a gutting of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), giving reckless corporations a free pass to operate without consequences. This proposal would take us back to an era of merely voluntary measures — where human rights abuses and environmental destruction continue unchecked, with no prevention, no accountability, and no justice.
By restricting due diligence to direct suppliers, companies will have no obligation to identify risks and potential harms beyond their immediate contracts – even if human rights and environmental abuses are widely reported and concentrated towards the bottom of supply chains, where raw materials extraction and subcontracted labour involve the most abuses. Without enforceable obligations to protect labour rights, vulnerable workers will still face union busting, unsafe working conditions and exploitation, while European multinationals continue making billions off the back of human suffering. With civil liability stripped away, survivors and victims’ families will once again be left without access to justice, unable to hold companies responsible for profiting from a system that places profit before human lives.