On 15 March 2024, the Council endorsed the agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) following the compromise text proposed by the Belgian Presidency.
The agreement comes after months of uncertainty and continuous negotiations between the Presidency and Member States, in pursuit of securing a qualified majority of parties agreeing on the text.
The following changes have been made to the text:
- Scope: The proposal has seen adjustments in its general thresholds, aiming to decrease the number of companies, both EU and non-EU, falling within the scope of the Directive. Specifically, the thresholds have been raised from 500 employees to 1000 and from EUR 150 million turnover to EUR 450 million. Additionally, the approach concerning high-risk sectors has been removed.
- Chain of activities: The downstream value chain definition has been narrowed down. This was achieved by removing references to the disposal of the product and by confining it to business partners who perform activities for or on behalf of the company.
- Application:
-By late 2026/early 2027: Deadline for Member States to transpose the rules
-Late 2027/early 2028: Rules begin to apply to companies with over 5,000 employees and EUR 1500 million net turnover
-Late 2028/early 2029: Rules begin to apply to companies with over 3,000 employees and EUR 900 million net turnover
-Late 2029/early 2030: Rules begin to apply to companies with over 1,000 employees and EUR 450 million net turnover
Regarding the next steps, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee is expected to endorse the text on Tuesday 19 March, for the Directive to be voted in the last Plenary between 22 and 25 April.