Ref. Ares(2022)291689 - 14/01/2022
Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
Lines to take
• The
aim of the legislative proposal on sustainable corporate
governance is to
foster sustainability and resilience in
corporate decision-making, and in particular to
help companies
become environmentally and socially sustainable. Embedding
sustainability into corporate governance would also be an
important
catalyst for a sustainable recovery after the COVID
crisis.
• The Commission is working intensively on the
Impact
Assessment which
will
inform the decision of the College on
the proposal. The plan is to submit a
legislative proposal to the
EU co-legislators
later this year.
• The impact assessment takes into account
a very broad range
of evidence, including several studies that demonstrate also the
benefits of switching businesses to a more sustainable modes
of operation.
• The Impact Assessment also reflects on stakeholders’ views,
including the feedback received during our
open public
consultation, which generated almost
half a million of
responses.
• Despite some differences across the various respondent groups
on how to achieve the goal, there is
overall support for the
initiative itself. The
consultation responses and a factual
summary have just been published on the Commission’s
website.
• The impact assessment is looking into
three main elements:
o Possible EU-wide rules on
corporate due diligence, to
mitigate or prevent adverse impacts in the
company’s
own operations and its
value chains.
o How to
clarify that directors have a duty to pursue
long-
term value creation and a
sustainable strategy for their
company and
manage sustainability risks.
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
o Reflections on possibly aligning
directors’ remuneration
schemes to ensure that
incentives support long term
sustainability.
• We are looking into whether the
due diligence duty would have
to apply across
all industry sectors or not and how it could be
aligned with internationally recognised human rights and
labour standards and/or international environmental
commitments and EU goals, such as the 2050 climate neutrality
objective and the EU’s biodiversity goals.
• Ideally, all adverse impacts that can occur
throughout the
value chain should be captured.
• We are exploring how
civil liability can play a role and whether
obligations would apply beyond direct suppliers, as important
risks to the environment as well as regards human rights (such
as forced labour) tend to materialise in supply chains
beyond
tier one suppliers.
• We are also looking into the potential
role of public authorities
and whether the due diligence rules would
also cover some
third-country companies to level the playing field in the EU
market.
• In this analysis, we are paying particular attention that
obligations would be
proportionate, both to the
size of the
company and to the
risk of adverse impacts in the various
economic sectors. We pay particular attention to
mitigating the
burden of SMEs and to the need to
provide them with
additional support so that they can also reap the benefits of the
initiative.
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
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Meeting with the VOKA (Flanders’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and
Eurochambres
Remote - 11/06/2021 11:00
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