Only a few months after the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) was approved and published in the European Journal on July 5, 2024, its basic principles are already being challenged. Yesterday, Feb. 26, the Commissioner for Economic and Productivity as well as for Implementation and Simplification, Vladis Dombrovskis, announced the long-awaited Omnibus package, already anticipated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in November 2024.

The Omnibus package, which aims to simplify regulations for businesses with the stated goal of improving procedural efficiency and reducing economic burdens, actually undermines the effectiveness of corporate responsibility regulations.

For example, in the context of production chains, while CS3D ensured monitoring across the entire value chain to prevent human rights violations and environmental damage, the Omnibus proposal limits mandatory due diligence to the operations of direct partners only. This approach excludes from monitoring the most serious violations, which often occur at the deepest stages of supply chains, where abuses and discriminatory acts occur.

We at Mani Tese, as co-coordinators of the Impresa 2030 Campaign-an Italian coalition of civil society organizations committed to the defense of human and environmental rights-express strong disappointment with this measure. The amendment proposed by the Omnibus package strips the Due Diligence Directive of its key principles, putting at risk even the investments of those companies that had welcomed the directive as an opportunity for clearer and more consistent regulation.

This measure holds back progress toward a more just and sustainable world by undermining the possibility of improving working conditions, especially in Global South countries. It is precisely in these contexts, where Mani Tese has been working for more than 60 years, that the most vulnerable parts of the value chain are the most exposed to labor rights violations.

The most alarming points of the proposal

1. Threat to the democratic process that led to the passage of the law.
2. False simplification, which does not address the real problems and reduces the obligations of companies, leaving climate commitments under the Paris Agreement unfulfilled.
3. Limiting due diligence to direct business partners only., neglecting the more serious violations that occur in the deeper stages of supply chains.
4. Reduction in corporate policy monitoring., which would decrease from an annual audit to one every five years.
5. Elimination of essential enforcement mechanisms, such as the right of access to justice for victims of abuse, making it more difficult to exercise.

These changes reduce the effectiveness of the directive and place it at odds with international standards of corporate responsibility. The risk is to turn it into a mere bureaucratic exercise, far from the goal of true corporate sustainability and with serious consequences for the environment and the rights of people involved in production chains.

The Omnibus package not only undermines social and environmental justice, but also undermines economic stability and the effectiveness of long-term interventions. The Cocoa Coalition, for example, warned in a January 20, 2025 statement that amending the CSDD could lead to regulatory fragmentation among member states, increasing compliance costs without generating concrete benefits.

An attack on the democratic decision-making system

The reopening of the Due Diligence Directive through the Omnibus package is an attack on the democratic system for several reasons:

• Threat to participatory legislative process: The directive was the result of a long process involving the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and numerous stakeholders, including civil society groups, trade unions and businesses. Reopening it without proper involvement of the same parties risks excluding crucial voices and undermining the legitimacy of the decision-making process.
• Subtraction of transparency and accountability: The approval of the directive followed a clear and public process, with extensive consultations. The revision, on the other hand, risks taking place without the necessary public scrutiny, reducing transparency and political accountability.
• Inconsistency with the principle of policy co-creation: The directive was developed in a context of cooperation between European institutions and stakeholders, ensuring clear and shared rules. The Omnibus package ignores this collaborative process and puts European regulatory coherence at risk.
• Weakening of rights and protections: Changes that reduce corporate obligations in terms of transparency and accountability to human rights and the environment risk emptying the law of its core principles. Limiting due diligence to only direct business partners or reducing monitoring mechanisms means undermining the protection of people and the environment.

This measure maintains a business model that ignores climate and social emergencies, rejecting any bold action to address the crisis, expressing a weak Europe that demonstrates inconsistency and a worrying vulnerability to outside influences.

Read the Impresa2030 press release here.