Directive (EU) 2024/1760 does not aim to provide a comprehensive framework for the protection of human rights or the environment in the context of companies’ operations. Instead, it aims to harmonise national law concerning general due diligence obligations on such companies and liability in that respect, thereby ensuring that companies active in the internal market contribute to sustainable development. Due diligence processes complement, rather than replace, the specific legal obligations that operate to protect, directly or indirectly, human rights or the environment. Those specific legal obligations include those deriving from, amongst many other examples, labour, working time and equality law; law concerning workplace health and safety, including the handling of hazardous materials; construction standards and building zoning law; and law regulating product or food safety. All such legal obligations fall outside the scope of Directive (EU) 2024/1760, unless and insofar as they include general due diligence obligations. To increase legal certainty and to ensure that the necessary regulatory freedom is explicitly preserved, Directive (EU) 2024/1760 should be amended to further clarify the limits of the scope of that Directive.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
