Establishing New Complaints Mechanisms for Supply Chain Due Diligence

After intense and controversial debates, the European Union finalised the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in 2024. It was adopted as Directive (EU) 2024/1760 and aims to establish “obligations for companies regarding actual and potential human rights adverse impacts and environmental adverse impacts, with respect to their own operations, the operations of their subsidiaries, and the operations carried out by their business partners in the chains of activities of those companies” (Article 1(1a)). It will replace national rules previously adopted by some member states such as France and Germany. One of the directive’s due diligence instruments are complaints mechanisms. Companies will have to “establish a fair, publicly available, accessible, predictable and transparent procedure for dealing with […] complaints” (Article 14(3)). The purpose of this paper is to provide answers to the following questions: What stakeholders and interests are involved in the establishment of such complaints mechanisms? And how have these interests shaped the rules laid down in the CSDDD? The question behind this is what contribution do the complaint mechanisms make in protecting people whose rights are affected by activities in the supply chain? The paper includes complaints mechanisms foreseen by the German Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (Supply Chain Due Diligence Act) that entered into force on 1 January 2023. The paper is based on an ongoing series of interviews with stakeholders from civil society organisations, public administration and companies involved in the process.