20 June 2022

EBF Position paper – Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD)

The directive should clarify whether it is asking financial entities to identify the adverse impact just once during the onboarding of the client or for each new product/service contract a company is selling to a same client.

Key issues

• The EBF position is that the obligations of this Directive should apply at the consolidated group level and subsidiaries should be expressly exempted.
• The notion of “directors” should be clarified. The proposal does not seem to distinguish between executive and non-executive directors, or even between members of the board of directors or senior managers.
• We strongly oppose the inclusion of the proposed provisions on civil liability (article 22) and the payment of damages to affected groups (article 8) in the Directive. They go against the established principles of national civil law and create an unaccountable and uncertain legal risk for companies.

full paper

EBF

© EBF