EU Commission plans postponement: Supply Chain Act under criticism!

On February 26, 2025, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented new EU plans that include far-reaching changes in the area of ​​supply chain law. Accordingly, the law should be postponed for two years and its design should be defused. These measures met with sharp criticism from the SPD and the Greens.

A central point of the changes is that in future compliance with human rights and environmental standards should only be ensured by direct business partners. This significantly limits protection throughout the supply chain. In addition, the reporting requirements on sustainability are to be simplified in order to accommodate the European economy, which is demanding a reduction in bureaucracy.

Supply Chain Act: Previous deficiencies and criticism

The German supply chain law, which came into force on January 1, 2022, has significant gaps, particularly with regard to the protection of the environment and human rights, such as Greenpeace reported. Control of standards only occurs at the end of the value chain, which means that many environmental damages that typically occur at the beginning of the supply chain are not adequately addressed.

The law only applies to direct suppliers, which means that companies only have to take action if there is reasonable suspicion of environmental damage. This represents a significant weakness as environmental aspects are only taken into account to a very limited extent and some risk sectors, such as the textile industry, are excluded from the regulations.

Furthermore, there are no specific liability regulations for breaches of the duty of care. It is difficult to hold companies accountable, making it difficult to enforce standards and protect human rights and the environment. From January 1, 2023, only around 600 companies with more than 3,000 employees will initially be recorded, which has met with criticism. Greenpeace demands that smaller companies in risky sectors should also be included in the law in the future, as this is necessary to achieve comprehensive improvements in the areas of environmental protection and human rights.

Companies such as Symrise, Tchibo and Beckers Bester have already called for improvements to the law to address these deficiencies.