On 23 February 2022, the European Commission released its proposal for a Corporate Accountability Law. This directive could represent a landmark step forward in ending the abuses by businesses of workers, communities and the environment worldwide. In response, over 220 NGOs and trade unions from around the world welcome the proposal for a long-awaited step toward corporate accountability and access to justice.
However, the proposal contains significant flaws that risk preventing the new law from achieving the protection that people, planet, and climate urgently need. The undersigned human rights, labour and environmental organisations and networks call on the European Parliament and EU Member States to strengthen the text in line with what EU citizens, workers and communities affected by corporate violations worldwide have vocally and publicly demanded.
The joint statement outlines our collective views on how to improve the proposal to guarantee that the law will effectively protect human rights, the environment and the climate by preventing corporate harm and providing people affected by corporate violations with access to remedy and justice.
