EU countries on Tuesday gave their final approval to scale back rules that require companies to address environmental and human rights risks in their supply chains, after months of pressure from businesses and governments including the U.S and Qatar.
The changes, approved by European Union ministers at a meeting in Brussels, weaken the rules for most businesses currently covered. EU governments and the European Parliament negotiated the amendments last year.
They follow criticism from some industries that EU red tape and strict regulation hindered competitiveness with foreign rivals. But the weaker laws have dismayed environmental campaigners and some investors who said it would become harder to identify genuinely sustainable companies.
Under the changes, the EU will limit its corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD) to only the largest EU corporations – those with more than 5,000 employees and 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) annual turnover.
The same rules will cover foreign companies whose EU turnover exceeds that amount. They could face fines of up to 3% of net global turnover for breaching the rules.
“We are reducing unnecessary and disproportionate burdens on our businesses, with simpler, more targeted and more proportionate rules,” said Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s deputy EU affairs minister, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting.
