Clean Clothes Campaign Release on Corporate Responsibility Directive
Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), including the national CCC coalition for Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, welcomes with caution the long-awaited proposal for a directive on corporate responsibility announced yesterday, February 23, by the European Commission.
Although the proposal is not fully aligned with our recommendations, requiring companies to respect human rights and environmental protection is a significant step toward corporate accountability.
We call on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, as legislators, to use this Directive to provide even stronger protection for workers and other rights holders.
We particularly welcome the inclusion of freedom of association, collective bargaining, living wages, and health and safety provisions among the obligations that companies must address.
A positive aspect of the directive is the possibility of holding companies accountable in court for human rights violations within their supply chains. We urge the European Parliament and the EU Council to further strengthen corporate responsibility and improve victims’ access to justice. Companies must not be allowed to evade responsibility for workers employed in their production chains.
The deadly fire at the Ali Enterprises plant in Pakistan is a tragic example of what is at stake. An audit company visited the factory and declared it safe just weeks before the fire in which 250 workers died. Years later, the families of the victims are still fighting for justice, said Neva Nahtigal of the Clean Clothes Campaign.
One of the negative aspects of the proposed Directive is the high threshold for the companies it would apply to. The European Commission proposes that it apply only to companies with more than 500 employees and a turnover of more than 150 million euros. For companies in high-risk sectors, such as textiles, clothing, and footwear, the threshold is reduced to 250 employees and a 40 million euro turnover, but with the caveat that such a threshold applies only in cases of serious violations.
The Clean Clothes Campaign believes that the directive must apply to all companies, regardless of their size or structure. We also believe it must include semi-formal and informal forms of work, as well as home-based work.
The European Union has a unique chance to protect millions of workers who produce goods for European countries. Legislators must demand, among other things, that companies adjust their purchasing practices. This is not possible without supply chain mapping and transparency, which must be the foundation of corporate responsibility, said Muriel Treibich of the Clean Clothes Campaign.
The Clean Clothes Campaign calls on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to seize this opportunity and adopt a directive that will adequately address the fundamental challenges and structural inequalities within production chains.
You can read the entire press release at the link: European Union One Step Closer to Corporate Accountability But With A Long Way To Go.
