The Corporate Responsibility Directive recently received attention from the European Parliament as they debated on overturning it. However, Finland played a crucial role in revising its content. The directive aims to address issues such as child labor, labor exploitation, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution by requiring companies to adhere to a duty of care in their value chains.
On Wednesday, the directive was passed by the European Parliament with 374 votes in favor, 235 against, and 19 abstentions. Green MEP Heidi Hautala expressed her optimism about the outcome after working on the directive for a long time. Along with Lara Wolters and Manon Aubryn, Hautala starred in a documentary about the development of the Corporate Responsibility Directive.
Under this directive, companies with at least one thousand employees and a turnover of at least EUR 450 million are required to comply with the duty of care. However, Finland pushed back against a clause on class action lawsuits included in the directive. Despite some delays, the core legislation of the directive remained unchanged after several attempts by Belgium, who held the EU presidency at the time.
The Corporate Responsibility Directive is still awaiting final approval from the Council of Member States before coming into effect.