Press Release IG Metall Welcomes the EU Council’s Adoption of the European Supply Chain Act

Today’s European Union Council decision on a European Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive (EU-CSDDD) enables urgently needed protection of human and labor rights along global supply chains. IG Metall welcomes this European legal framework. It ensures that it is no longer only companies from countries with corresponding national legislation (such as Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act) that must fulfill human rights, labor rights, and environmental due diligence obligations, but that the same standards will now apply to companies across the EU. “In this way, the European legal framework creates a level playing field for European companies,” said Christiane Benner, First Chair of IG Metall.

The First Chairwoman added: “Despite geopolitical tensions and the struggle for access to critical raw materials and rare earths, the European Union, with its Supply Chain Act, is taking a stand to ensure that this competition is not waged at the expense of the world’s poorest people.”

With the European elections approaching, the European Union is sending an important signal, Benner added. The EU is more than just a single market that only serves the interests of companies and corporations. The EU must continue on this path even after the elections.

As a next step, IG Metall expects the expansion of binding due diligence obligations for companies at the global level. To achieve this, serious negotiations must be conducted at the United Nations level on an internationally binding agreement on business and human rights (UN Treaty).

Works councils and the union are already working in many places on global framework agreements regarding minimum social standards in transnational corporations. A clear legal framework established by the United Nations would support the implementation of such agreements.