The European Commission is by the end of the year set to propose new rules subjecting companies to stricter controls in a bid to encourage them to ensure suppliers respect human rights and do not harm the environment.
The Commission says the rules will aim to balance companies’ capacity to control what happens in their global supply chain, especially small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), with the need to improve the oversight of the private sector’s impact beyond Europe’s borders.
“It is important that we respect inside and outside the EU the same principles and values,” Lucrezia Busa, a cabinet member of EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, told an online EURACTIV debate on the subject on 9 March. “I am sure we will get it right.”
Lawmakers in the European Parliament passed a resolution to tackle environmental and human rights issues in the supply chains of EU businesses by 504 votes to 79 on Wednesday (10 March) ahead of the Commission’s proposal on corporate due diligence later this year.