On the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2006/43/EC, 2013/34/EU, (EU) 2022/2464 and (EU) 2024/1760 as regards certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements

PA_Legrej

SHORT JUSTIFICATION

The EU has for long been a global forerunner in sustainability and corporate due diligence and has committed to upwards convergence in both environmental and social sustainability both within the Union and globally. In the area of sustainability reporting and corporate due diligence, this has been exemplified by the Directives 2006/43/EC, 2013/34/EU, (EU) 2022/2464 and (EU) 2024/1760 which established a robust platform for corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence. The combination of these Directives ensured, amongst other things, the availability of sustainability related data and risks vital for both investors and NGOs assessing abuses, mechanisms for companies to improve the due diligence processes and sustainability of their entire value chains as well as increased access to justice for those suffering from harms throughout the value chain.

The current Commission proposal risks watering down the core elements of this newly established sustainability reporting and due diligence framework. Although the aim of simplification in terms of reporting duties for companies is laudable and steps related to, inter alia, electronic reporting or the increased use of guidelines are welcome, simplification cannot mean broad sweeping deregulation that changes the entire purposes of the previous directives. Dismantling core parts of the legislation risks not only creating regulatory uncertainty for companies, barring proper access to justice for those harmed, but also hampers the availability of quality, comparable and granular sustainability data that is much called for by investors and business partners alike. While the protection of especially SMEs from an overburdening of reporting requirements is a pertinent worry, there needs to be a more simple and efficient way of reaching this goal than dismantling the core parts of the existing sustainability reporting and due diligence framework.

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The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Legal Affairs, as the committee responsible, to propose rejection of the Commission proposal.

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur for opinion declares that she included in her opinion input on matters pertaining to the subject of the file that she received, in the preparation of the opinion, prior to the adoption thereof in committee, from the following interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from the following representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies:

1. Interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register

Finnwatch

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK

European Sustainable Investment Forum

European Trade Union Confederation ETUC

Akava, The Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland

The Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK

Finnish Development NGOs Fingo

United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights

European Coalition for Corporate Justice

Amnesty International

European Central Bank

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur for opinion.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur for opinion declares that she has submitted to the natural persons concerned the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

Title

Amending Directives 2006/43/EC, 2013/34/EU, (EU) 2022/2464 and (EU) 2024/1760 as regards certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements

References

COM(2025)0081 – C10-0037/2025 – 2025/0045(COD)

Committee(s) responsible

Date announced in plenary

JURI

31.3.2025

Opinion by

Date announced in plenary

EMPL

31.3.2025

Rapporteur for the opinion

Date appointed

Li Andersson

16.4.2025

Discussed in committee

4.6.2025

Date adopted

4.9.2025

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

21

18

9

Members present for the final vote

Maravillas Abadía Jover, Li Andersson, Konstantinos Arvanitis, Nikola Bartůšek, Gabriele Bischoff, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, David Casa, Estelle Ceulemans, Leila Chaibi, Henrik Dahl, Johan Danielsson, Mélanie Disdier, Niels Geuking, Sérgio Humberto, Martine Kemp, Katrin Langensiepen, Marit Maij, Marlena Maląg, Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak, Idoia Mendia, Branislav Ondruš, Hristo Petrov, Dennis Radtke, Liesbet Sommen, Villy Søvndal, Georgiana Teodorescu, Romana Tomc, Jana Toom, Raffaele Topo, Francesco Torselli, Brigitte van den Berg, Marianne Vind, Mariateresa Vivaldini, Petar Volgin, Jan-Peter Warnke, Séverine Werbrouck

Substitutes present for the final vote

Gordan Bosanac, Valérie Devaux, Kathleen Funchion, Rudi Kennes, Eugen Tomac

Members under Rule 216(7) present for the final vote

Lena Düpont, Sandra Gómez López, Elisabeth Grossmann, Jorge Martín Frías, Ana Catarina Mendes, Philippe Olivier, Michał Wawrykiewicz

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL BY THE COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

No RCV took place