IHRB response to European Commission Consultation on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) guidance

IHRB has submitted its response to the European Commission's open public consultation on guidelines for implementing the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

After the Omnibus revisions, much of the detail that will determine whether the CSDDD works in practice now sits with the guidance the Commission is preparing, which will cover due diligence process, purchasing practices, model contract clauses, industry initiatives, third-party verification, stakeholder engagement and more. 

IHRB’s response centres on the premise that the guidelines should keep the Directive firmly anchored to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the OECD Guidelines, and help companies focus on risks to people, not only risks to the business.

Our response draws on IHRB's practical work, from the Employer Pays Principle and the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment, to the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) and our programmes on migrant workers and the built environment. Across 56 questions, a few themes recur:

Meaningful stakeholder engagement is the core of due diligence. The most reliable way to find and act on harm is trusted, ongoing, two-way dialogue with rights-holders on the ground — often best reached through trade unions, migrant and community organisations and other trusted intermediaries, rather than one-off consultation or extractive audits.

Reaching workers most at risk. Migrant, posted and informally employed workers in lower subcontracting tiers are frequently the least visible and most exposed. Guidelines should reflect this, as well as recognise potential consequences for workers that speak up,  — including dismissal, deportation, loss of a visa, or unpaid wages. The guidelines should treat responsible recruitment and the Employer Pays Principle as central to prevention, as recruitment fees are often the origin of debt bondage and conditions for forced labour in a worker’s employment journey.

Purchasing practices and fair prices. Pricing and payment terms have to allow suppliers to meet wage and working-condition obligations. Collective approaches such as ACT on living wages and publicly-available data on websites such as the Wage Indicator Foundation can help companies act without falling foul of competition concerns.

Conflict-affected and high-risk areas. Heightened, conflict-sensitive due diligence should be the expectation. Our experience in Myanmar shows the value of in-country presence, collective action and engaged European Chambers of Commerce or EU Member Embassies, which can inform responsible, well-managed decisions about whether to stay or exit conflict and high-risk areas.

Collective action needs support to work. Industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) can pool leverage and reduce duplication, but their effectiveness depends on credible, accountable verification, and on adequate funding, which many MSIs are struggling with.

We also encourage the Commission to convene and support this work in-country rather than only at headquarters, to guide Member State embassies on CSDDD implementation, and to bring reliable guidance and data together in a single accessible portal, building on the model of the EU Forced Labour Portal.