Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1760), as amended by the Omnibus I package

• • The CSDDD places a duty on very large companies to identify, prevent and account for human rights and environmental harms in their own operations, their subsidiaries and their value chains — covering issues such as child and forced labour, health and safety, and freedom of association.
• • The Omnibus I simplification package changed it substantially. The Council gave final sign-off on 24 February 2026, the amending Directive (EU) 2026/470 was published on 26 February 2026 and entered into force on 18 March 2026. It raises the CSDDD threshold to companies with more than 5,000 employees and over €1.5 billion net turnover, limits the trickle-down of obligations onto smaller suppliers, and delays application of the requirements to 26 July 2029.
• • Who is affected: the largest EU and non-EU companies trading in the EU, their suppliers, and the workers and communities in those supply chains.

It decides whether supply-chain human rights duties are legally enforceable in Europe, and the Omnibus changes cut both the number of companies covered and the date it starts.

Next: Member states transpose the amended Directive into national law, with application of the due diligence requirements from 26 July 2029.

• • A bill is not law. Until it has royal assent or its equivalent, nothing in it applies to anyone.
• • An act may not take effect immediately. Most acts commence in stages, often over years.
• • Secondary regulations usually decide the real-world impact — dates, thresholds, exemptions and enforcement.

1. Issue

   Completed

   Human rights and environmental harms in global supply chains, and divergent national due diligence laws.

   No legal effect; the agenda-setting stage.

2. Commission proposal

   Completed

   The European Commission proposed the Directive in February 2022.

   The proposal sets the scope that Parliament and Council then negotiate.

3. European Parliament position

   Completed

   Committee scrutiny and a plenary mandate, with contested votes on scope and liability.

   The public record of amendments shows where positions shifted.

4. Council position

   Completed

   Member state governments agreed a negotiating position after several rounds.

   National governments determined thresholds and exemptions.

5. Adoption and entry into force

   Completed

   Adopted as Directive (EU) 2024/1760 and in force from 25 July 2024.

   A Directive binds member states as to the result, but needs national law to take effect.

6. Omnibus I simplification proposed

   Completed

   The Commission opened its simplification effort on 27 February 2025, covering CSRD, CSDDD and the Taxonomy.

   Reopening a Directive before it applies is unusual and changes the compliance baseline.

7. First amendment — 'stop the clock'

   Completed

   Directive (EU) 2025/794 postponed deadlines while the wider package was negotiated.

   Deadline-only amendments buy time without settling the substance.

8. Omnibus I adopted

   Completed

   Council final sign-off on 24 February 2026; Directive (EU) 2026/470 published 26 February 2026; in force 18 March 2026.

   This is the amendment that narrowed scope and moved the application date.

9. National transposition

   Happening now

   Member states write the amended requirements into national law and designate supervisory authorities.

   The rules a company actually follows are the national ones, not the Directive itself.

10. Application

    Still to come

    Due diligence requirements apply from 26 July 2029 to companies above 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion net turnover.

    Until then the duties are not enforceable against companies.

11. Review

    Still to come

    The Commission is expected to review scope and effectiveness after application begins.

    Reviews are the main route by which thresholds are revisited.