AIM - European Brands Association’s Post

On Friday, a significant milestone was reached in Europe with the agreement on the #CSDDD. This legislation marks a crucial step towards creating a level playing field, a principle that we at AIM-Progress have long championed through our efforts to integrate #HumanRights #DueDiligence into our members' responsible sourcing programs. While this progress is commendable, the journey from recognizing human rights risks and enhancing transparency to tackling the root causes and ensuring decent work for all workers and farmers is where the real challenge lies. Our ongoing mission will be to harmonize supplier requirements and empower suppliers worldwide to take ownership of their human rights’ due diligence processes. At AIM-Progress, we remain committed to supporting our members in this critical area, fostering co-creation of solutions, and spearheading practical, collaborative initiatives to address these challenges head-on.

📣 Good News for European Businesses 📣 The EU ambassadors have approved the revised supply chain oversight rules. This is a significant step towards ensuring harmonised human rights and environmental standards across EU member states. The rules now apply to companies with at least 1,000 employees and annual sales of €450 million, addressing concerns raised by member states like Italy and France. With final approval pending from the European Parliament (likely in April), we're closer to a more transparent and sustainable business environment in the EU. 🌱✨ The German government abstained in the vote following the liberal push-back. Read more on the background of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in 2BPolicy's latest blog post here: https://lnkd.in/dnBKjxhY #EUregulation #SupplyChainTransparency #Sustainability

Best news of last week: On Friday, the 27 EU member states voted in favour of the Supply Chain Directive. In the future, companies will have to ensure that standards such as the ban on child labour and exploitation are adhered to throughout their entire supply chain - including up to their suppliers. Our friends at 2BPolicy have put together some useful background about the new #CorporateSustainabilityDueDiligenceDirective and next steps. #sustainabilitypolicy #responsiblesupplychains #responsiblebusiness #humanrights

📢 Read the post! 📢 👇 Below you can read several reasons why we need standards. ✅ Standards safeguard the single market and make business easier in Europe! 🇪🇺

EN standard is one side for internal market but EN ISO standard is the other side if at least we cover european need. Europe in its regulation indicates EN standards that are by the fact mandatory.

Of course, we need European standards but we need a simplification of the HAS assessment procedure to ensure a just-in-time publication of hEN in the OJEU! #NewLegislativeFramework #ConformityAssessment #Standards #CEN #CENELEC #ETSI

🤔 Why do we need European standards anyway? Questions like this make sense: the EU is an increasingly large factor in the day-to-day of the average European. Unfortunately, it's all too common for people to misunderstand what European standards actually are. Let's debunk a couple of misconceptions: 🛑 European standards set a bureaucratic burden ✔ Harmonized European standards are voluntary documents setting out how economic actors can comply with EU/EFTA legislation 🛑 European standards are imposed from above ✔ Harmonized European standards are develop following a request by the European Commission and with the input of all relevant stakeholders. 🛑European standards are excessive ✔ European standards make it easier to do business in Europe and beyond by replacing 34 different national standards. 🛑European standards aren't equal ✔Thanks to European standards, businesses across Europe start off on an equal footing - thereby safeguarding the cohesiveness of the Single Market. Want to know more about the power of #standardization? Give our 2024 declaration a read and find out what's needed to ensure standards work towards improved sustainability, reflect Europe's role as a rules-setting leader globally and reinforce our #SingleMarket: https://lnkd.in/e4RV-set #TrustStandards

- In our newest article, we look at the impact of CSRD and CBAM on Asian companies with EU ties. - As always, Marc Allen does an amazing job of taking a complex topic, and making it way easier to understand. - My 2 favorite parts of this piece: clear details on what these regulations mean, and specific ways that businesses can prepare.

Today marks an important milestone, and it’s worth pausing to appreciate this. AIM - European Brands Association has supported the EU’s approach on this #CSDDD legislation from the outset, with our members working through the complex details to achieve a legislative framework that is practical and workable from a supply chain perspective, but more importantly, that is meaningful and actually has a positive impact on people’s lives. That’s what our AIM-Progress team does on a daily basis - beyond policy and legislation but operationally, how can we do better and continuously improve the lives of people in our communities and supply chain. It’s by no means the end but the beginning of the next chapter, and even more detail is to come, but at least the EU now has a common approach. #humanrightsduediligence #responsiblebrands #sustainablesupplychains

📢  [EU CSDDD: White smoke!] ✅ After weeks of uncertainty, today EU member states have given their green light to EU legislation that would create an EU framework for responsible business conduct – the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). ⏩ With today’s positive vote, we are one step closer to more harmonised rules and a level playing field on #duediligence! Despite having been watered down in the past weeks, the CSDDD represents a ground-breaking piece of legislation. While imperfect, we are supportive of it since it: 📌 Offers broad alignment with international due diligence standards in as far as a risk-based approach to due diligence is concerned 📌 Allows companies to leverage industry tools and programmes to support with their due diligence endeavours 📌 Stipulates that the core due diligence provisions are subject to harmonization. 👏 We commend those EU Member States who voted in favour and congratulate the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 for their constructive approach and tireless effort to broker a deal. Big congratulations and huge thanks also go to EP Rapporteur Lara Wolters, EP Shadows Axel Voss, Heidi Hautala, European Commission and all those stakeholders who have been instrumental in making this happen (Solidaridad Network, Fair Wear Foundation, Responsible Business Alliance, Anti-Slavery International, Frank Bold, Shift Project, OECD - OCDE, World Benchmarking Alliance, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, AIM - European Brands Association, Fair Labor Association, Ethical Trading Initiative and many more). 🔜 Next procedural step is the vote in the European Parliament JURI Committee followed by Plenary vote. Follow us for further progress on the EU CSDDD. #CSDDD #duediligence #legislationupdates