The Finnish government stated last week that it cannot support the adoption of the directive.
Brussels
EU countries are postponing a crucial vote on the corporate responsibility directive strengthening the responsibility of large companies' supply chains due to opposition from some member countries.
At least Finland and Germany had announced in advance that they would abstain from voting in favor of the directive in the crucial meeting planned for Friday. According to the rules of the Council of EU countries, an abstention counts as a non-vote.
According to the news agency Bloomberg, Italy also opposed the directive, and Belgium, acting as chairman, decided to remove the directive from the agenda of the meeting on Friday.
Negotiations on the content of the corporate responsibility directive took place for almost two years, until before Christmas, the EU countries and the European Parliament reached an agreement on its content. The agreement still needs to be approved by the member states and the parliament, which is usually mostly a formality.
The news is updated.
This is what it's all about
New requirements for large companies
-
The EU's corporate responsibility directive would order large companies to find out the harmful environmental and human rights impacts related to their operations and supply chain and to intervene in them.
-
Companies should also draw up a plan on how their operations fit in with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris climate agreement.
-
The directive would allow for a class action against a company that defaults on its obligations.
-
The directive would apply to all companies with more than 500 employees and companies with more than 250 employees in certain risk sectors such as the textile industry and construction.
-
The directive is estimated to apply to around 200 companies in Finland. They will incur annual additional costs of up to 300,000 euros from the directive.
#Corporate #Responsibility #Directive #ran #opposition #Finland #countries
