Recital (38)

Article 4(1) of Directive (EU) 2024/1760 prohibits Member States from introducing, in their national law, provisions within the field covered by that Directive laying down human rights and environmental due diligence obligations diverging from those laid down in specific provisions of that Directive. To ensure that Member States do not go beyond that Directive and to avoid the creation of a fragmented regulatory landscape resulting in legal uncertainty and unnecessary burden, the full harmonisation provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1760 should be expanded to include additional provisions regulating the core aspects of the due diligence process. That includes, in particular, the identification duty, the duty to prioritise adverse impacts, the duties to address adverse impacts that have been or should have been identified, the duty to provide for a complaints and notification mechanism, the duty to monitor due diligence measures, and the duty to report on the matters covered by that Directive. At the same time, Member States should continue to be allowed to introduce more stringent provisions on other aspects or provisions on due diligence that are more specific in terms of the objective or the field covered. Such provisions include provisions of national law regulating specific adverse impacts or specific sectors of activity, in order to achieve a different level of protection of human, employment and social rights, the environment or the climate. To increase legal certainty and to ensure the necessary regulatory freedom, in particular as regards emerging specific risks for which due diligence obligations might be important, it should be clarified that such provisions include due diligence obligations concerning specific products, services or situations. Conversely, national rules going beyond a specific objective or field, for instance by regulating the due diligence process in general or regulating due diligence in an entire sector, do not constitute such provisions.