ESG & supply chain
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
Published Reviewed
What is CSDDD?
CSDDD requires large in-scope companies to identify, prevent, mitigate and remediate human-rights and environmental impacts across their operations, subsidiaries and chains of activities.
| Jurisdiction | European Union |
|---|---|
| Authority | Directive (EU) 2024/1760 |
| Current status | Phased and amended; verify current national implementation |
| Reviewed |
Why it matters operationally
CSDDD turns responsible-business policy into enforceable duty: in-scope companies must run risk-based due diligence for human-rights and environmental impacts across their own operations, subsidiaries and chains of activities. Directive (EU) 2026/470 narrowed ordinary scope to EU companies above 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion worldwide turnover, repealed the CSDDD climate-plan article, set a uniform 3% maximum pecuniary-penalty limit, and left damages liability to national law within an EU compensation guarantee. Transposition is due in 2028 and application in 2029, so national implementation remains part of the analysis.
Are you aware?
The dates that bind
Member-state transposition deadline
Member States must adopt and publish the national measures needed to comply with the amended directive by 26 July 2028.
Due-diligence measures apply
The amended national due-diligence measures apply to all companies in scope from 26 July 2029. Article 16 reporting follows for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2030.
A uniform maximum penalty limit
Member States must set the maximum limit of pecuniary penalties at 3% of net worldwide turnover, or consolidated worldwide turnover for the specified ultimate-parent cases.
Where to start
- 1
Confirm scope against the current thresholds and your group structure — then date-stamp that assessment, because the thresholds have moved before.
- 2
Map the chain of activities and rank impact risk by severity and likelihood; depth of due diligence follows that ranking, not suppplier alphabetical order.
- 3
Separate the amended CSDDD due-diligence duties from climate disclosures or transition work owed under other applicable regimes; the CSDDD climate-plan article was repealed.
Authority links
Read the official sources
The official text is the authority. This guide is only a short orientation for operational planning.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
How is CSDDD different from CSRD?
CSRD makes you report; CSDDD makes you act. One requires audited disclosure of sustainability information, the other requires actual due diligence — identifying, preventing and remediating impacts — with liability attached. They share data and diverge in consequence.
Does it reach non-EU companies?
Yes — third-country companies above the EU-turnover thresholds are in scope for their EU business, and in practice the duty travels further: in-scope customers push contractual due-diligence requirements onto suppliers of every size.
What does "chain of activities" cover?
Upstream business partners connected to production of goods or provision of services, and defined downstream activities such as distribution, transport and storage — narrower than "entire value chain", but far beyond tier-one suppliers.
Side by side
Compared against
Key terms in this guide
A quick self-check
Are you ready?
- Do you know — dated against the current text — whether and when you fall in scope?
- Could you show a severity-ranked map of human-rights and environmental risks across your chain of activities?
- Can you distinguish CSDDD duties from climate obligations that arise under other applicable law?
Every question above has a written, evidence-backed answer in a well-run compliance record. If one made you pause, that pause is the gap.