Human rights campaigner Jean-Louis Zeien, who has spent years defending the need for a binding supply-chain law, said the latest compromise was nothing short of a scandal.
The original goal was clear: to ensure supply chains that respect human rights and eliminate abuses such as child labour. Under the revised agreement, however, the requirements will now apply only to very large companies, those with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of at least €1.5 billion. On top of that, the implementation date has been pushed back another year, to July 2029.
For Zeien, who coordinates the Initiative ‘pour un devoir de vigilance’ (the Due Diligence Initiative in French), it is outrageous that four additional years will be lost. He argued that companies had already had ample time to prepare, and negotiations themselves had dragged on for two years.
What frustrates him most is the political alliance in the European Parliament that allowed the weakened rules to pass. Zeien pointed out that it was the first major issue in which the European People’s Party (EPP) teamed up with far-right groups to push through a more lenient version.
He added that lobbying pressure had not only come from European businesses but also from American companies, and he described it as deeply troubling that actors outside Europe were now able to influence or even steer EU policymaking.
Zeien also criticised the fact that companies will no longer be required to draw up climate action plans. Still, despite the setbacks, he said the supply-chain law remains a step forward in making companies more accountable.
