On Wednesday, the European Parliament rejected the mandate requested by the Legal Affairs Committee regarding the Omnibus 1 directive, which sought to negotiate a further simplification of the rules on sustainability and due diligence.

The vote was 309 in favour and 318 against the Committee’s approach, with 34 abstentions. On November 13, MEPs will now vote on the simplification of the rules on sustainability and due diligence.

Following this vote, discussions will be held with the various European governments. The aim is to finalise the legislation by the end of 2025.

MEPs rejected the latest amendments proposed by the Legal Affairs Committee in part because they further weakened the text. The Committee proposed applying the duty of vigilance only to companies with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of at least €1.5 billion, compared with 1,000 employees and €450 million in the initial version.

In addition, the Committee argued that companies breaching these rules should not be subject to civil liability at EU level.

The duty of vigilance voted in April 2024 was already a much-diluted version of the original draft, now limiting its application to very large companies. The companies concerned are required to prevent, identify and remedy human and social rights violations (child labour, forced labour, and safety) and environmental damage (deforestation and pollution) across their value chains worldwide, including among their suppliers, subcontractors and subsidiaries.

A step backwards had begun at the start of the year. France, which regularly boasts of having been a pioneer in this field with its own national duty of vigilance, had itself begun to slow progress on the European text. In May, the French President himself called for the European duty of vigilance proposal to be scrapped.