The European Commission’s long awaited Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive proposal was published on the 23rd February 2022. On this occasion the RBC wg organised a public webinar to present the proposal and to discuss its contents with a wide range of stakeholders.
AGENDA
0.00.00 Opening and welcome
Heidi Hautala, MEP, Chair of RBC wg
0.03.50 Keynote, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice
Presentation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive proposal
0.14.30 Questions to Commissioner Reynders
0.20.35 Answers to Questions by Commissioner Reynders
0.38.20 Rachel Davis, Vice President/Co-Founder, Shift
The implications of the legislative proposal for advancing the implementation of the UNGP globally
0.49.30 Anita Ramasastry, UN working group on Business and Human Rights
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the CSDDD proposal
0.56.20 Panel discussion
0.56.20 Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Center
1.03.05 Linda Kromjong, President, Amfori
1.08.50 Virginie Mahin, Global Head of Social Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Mondelez
1.13.35 Jaap Rijnsdorp, CEO, Schijvens
1.18.22 Nikolaj Pedersen, Senior Lead for Human Rights, Principles on Responsible Investment
1.24.58 Claudia Saller, Director General, European Coalition for Corporate Justice
1.31.25 Clotilde Henriot, Senior Law and Policy Advisor, ClientEarth
1.38.08 Isabelle Schömann, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
1.48.40 Claudia Saller, Director General, European Coalition for Corporate Justice
1.56.46 Richard Gardiner, Senior Campaigner on Corporate Accountability, Global Witness
2.01.01 Stefan Crets, Executive Director, CSR Europe
2.07.20 Questions and Answers
2.21.50 Closing remarks
Lara Wolters, MEP
Rapporteur on Corporate Due Diligence and Corporate Accountability
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Heidi Hautala, MEP, Chair of the EP working group on Responsible Business Conduct
Heidi Hautala is Vice-President of the European Parliament, Member of the European Parliament in the Greens/EFA group.She was elected as a Vice-President of the European Parliament in October 2017 and serves on the Committee on International Trade and the Subcommittee on Human Rights. In 2017, she established a Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct in the European Parliament. In Finland, Ms Hautala served as a Member of Parliament from 1991 to 1995 and from 2003 to 2009. From 2011 to 2013, she was the Minister for International Development and State Ownership Steering.She holds a Master’s degree in Agriculture and Forestry.
Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice
Didier Reynders is the European Commissioner for Justice, in charge of Rule of Law and Consumer Protection. In 1981, he obtained a degree in law at the University of Liège and became a Member of Belgium Parliament in 1992. In 1999, he became Minister of Finance (until 2011) and, in 2004, (concurrently) Deputy Prime Minister (until 2019). He was Chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur from 2004 until 2011, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs from 2011 until 2014 and became Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs in 2014 (until 2019). He has also been Minister of Defense since 2018.
Rachel Davis, Vice President/Co-Founder, Shift
Shift is an independent, non-profit center for business and human rights practice that helps governments, businesses and their stakeholders put the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into practice. Prior to co-founding Shift, Rachel was a senior legal advisor from 2006-2011 to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights, Harvard Professor John Ruggie. She played a pivotal role in the development of the Guiding Principles, advising on all aspects of the relationship between the Guiding Principles and national and international law. Rachel has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School and Bachelors degrees in Law and Politics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she also lectured and published in law.
Anita Ramasastry, Member of UN working group on Business and Human Rights
Anita Ramasastry is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and the Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the University of Washington School of Law. She is an expert in the fields of anti-corruption, commercial law, sustainable development and business and human rights. She is one of the leading academics and a pioneer in the field of business and human rights and the linkages between corruption and human rights. She currently serves as a member and the immediate past chair of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, having been appointed as rapporteur by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016.
Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Center
Human Rights Resource Centre is a digital action platform that empowers human rights advocates in civil society, business, and government. Phil was a founding director of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) that works with investors, and ranks the largest companies in high-risk sectors regarding their human rights policy, practice and performance. He was previously the Director of Campaigns and Policy at Oxfam. Phil also worked for 11 years in Central America and Colombia on human rights, indigenous rights, and broader economic justice.
Clotilde Henriot, Senior Law and Policy Advisor, ClientEarth
Clotilde Henriot leads on the Trade and Environment project within ClientEarth. She focuses on the reform of the Energy Charter Treaty to guarantee that it can no longer be used against progressive climate and environment measures. She also advocated for better environmental and human rights provisions as well as effective enforcement mechanisms accessible to civil society organisations in EU trade agreements. Clotilde works on the development of new EU corporate due diligence requirements in order for companies to present environment damage and human rights violations throughout their value chain and to be held accountable when harm occurs. Clotilde joined ClientEarth in 2013 after working for several years in a French private law firm as a litigator, her areas of focus were commercial and employment law. She holds degrees in Business law from Université Paris II-Assas and Paris-SUD in partnership with ESSEC, Business school, Paris.
Jaap Rijnsdorp, CEO, Schijvens
Schijvens Corporate Fashion has been making corporate clothing for more than 150 years and producing circular corporate clothing since 2017. The CEO of Schijvens, Jaap Rijnsdorp will talk about the effects of the Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence on SME’s and the textile industry.
Linda Kromjong, President, Amfori
Linda Kromjong is the President of Amfori, a global business association for open and sustainable trade. Kromjong has previously worked in Samsung Electronics, where she focused on strengthening the company’s relationships with key international policymakers and opinion formers while driving corporate and supply chain improvements. Prior to her role at Samsung, Linda Kromjong was Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) in Geneva from May 2015 to October 2018. Before the IOE, she was the Vice-President, Labour Relations International & Human Rights for Deutsche Post DHL. Linda started her career in the Hospitality Industry with Sodexo in the Netherlands and has many years’ experience in senior positions in General Management, Human Resources, Labour Relations and Business & Human Rights.
Isabelle Schömann, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
Isabelle Schömann heads ETUC policy on workers’ participation and EWCs, industrial policy and company law, competition and labour law, internal market and legislation, digitalisation, standardisation, public services and corporate social responsibility. Previously, she was a principal adviser to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board of the European Commission. From 2005 to 2016, she was a senior researcher with the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in Brussels. In 2014-16 she worked on the impact of the Commission’s Regulatory and Fitness Performance Programme (REFIT) on labour rights. Isabelle was legal advisor to the European Economic and Social Committee Workers’ Group on the European Pillar of Social Rights (2016). She was also an ETUI legal adviser and member of the ETUC negotiation delegations on harassment and violence at work, stress at work and telework. She was a member of the ETUI staff representation and ETUI works council. She has a postgraduate degree in social and labour law from the Sorbonne in Paris and has authored and co-authored a wide range of studies on trade union issues.
Stefan Crets, Executive Director, CSR Europe
Stefan Crets is Executive Director of CSR Europe, the European platform for companies and stakeholders to exchange and cooperate to become European leaders in sustainable competitiveness and societal wellbeing. From 2002 onwards, Stefan worked as the CSR leader at Toyota Europe where he developed and implemented a new strategy which informed Toyota’s worldwide approach. In 2008, Stefan was appointed General Manager for Corporate Planning and CSR, Toyota Europe. Prior to that, he was Programme Advisor at the King Baudouin Foundation, and started his professional career as a research academic at the University of Antwerp.
Virginie Mahin, Global Head of Social Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Mondelez
Virginie Mahin is driving Mondelez International’s social sustainability agenda — practical business minded approach to due diligence, impact mitigation and collective action against systemic supply chain issues. Mondelez is among the Cocoa companies that have called for human rights and environmental due diligence requirements.
Claudia Saller, Director General, European Coalition for Corporate Justice
European Coalition for Corporate Justice is a coalition of civil society organisations and NGOs from all over Europe working on business and human rights, corporate accountability, and corporate social responsibility. Claudia Saller is the Director General of ECCJ. Prior to joining the ECCJ, Saller has worked in the European trade union movement, in the European Parliament as well as for the Austrian civil society network on social responsibility. She holds a degree in political science from the University of Vienna, Austria.
Nikolaj Pedersen, Senior Lead for Human Rights, Principles on Responsible Investment
Nikolaj Pedersen is a senior specialist in PRI’s sustainable markets department and the temporary lead on the organisation’s human rights programme. His role is to design and implement projects with signatories and partners to mainstream human rights in the investment industry. Nikolaj previously held roles in the PRI’s Signatory Relations team servicing institutional investors in Europe, North America and the Middle East. Prior to joining the PRI Nikolaj worked in the business and human rights field in Denmark in both consulting and the private sector. He has a master’s degree in International Studies from Aarhus University and holds financial qualifications: IMC and CAIA.
Richard Gardiner, Senior Campaigner on Corporate Accountability, Global Witness
For over 25 years, Global Witness has investigated and exposed environmental and human rights abuses in the oil, gas, mining, and timber sectors, and tracked ill-gotten money and influence through the global financial and political system. Richard Gardiner is a senior campaigner working on corporate accountability with Global Witness.
Lara Wolters, MEP , EP Rapporteur on Corporate Due Diligence and Corporate Accountability
Lara Wolters is a Member of the European Parliament from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats. Lara Wolters is serving in the Committee on Budgetary Control and on the Committee on Legal Affairs. She is also an active member of the Responsible Business Conduct Working Group. Wolter was also the Rapporteur on European parliaments initiative on Corporate Due Diligence and Corporate Accountability.