The European Parliament On Wednesday voted in favor of a new law mandating larger companies to prevent and address human rights and environmental abuses in their global supply chains represents a significant advancement for corporate accountability, Human Rights Watch said.

The legislation, known as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), received support from 374 votes, with 235 votes against and 19 abstentions.

The Parliament’s vote in Strasbourg coincided with the 11th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh on April 24, 2013, which resulted in the loss of 1,138 garment workers’ lives and left over 2,000 others injured.

The proposed law mandated large companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence in both their own operations and global value chains.

Large companies, defined as those with more than 1,000 employees on average and over €450 million in net worldwide revenue in the previous financial year, will be subject to this requirement.

The legislation granted regulators the authority to take action against companies failing to fulfill these due diligence obligations and, in certain circumstances, permits victims of corporate abuses to seek justice through European courts.

“The 11th anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster is a somber reminder of why a due diligence law is long overdue,” said Aruna Kashyap, associate director on corporate accountability at Human Rights Watch.

“The European Parliament’s vote sends a strong message that the EU should no longer let large corporations get away with human rights and environmental abuses.”

The Rana Plaza disaster, alongside a range of other corporate abuses of human rights, labor rights, and environmental standards in global supply chains, have prompted rights groups, trade unions, and even some businesses to call for binding legislation to hold corporations accountable for abuses in their global supply chains.

Rights groups and social movements from around the world have campaigned for the European Union to adopt such legislation. These efforts have been critical to push back against corporate lobbying seeking to derail the proposed law.

The legislative process, which began in 2020, has been protracted and difficult, Human Rights Watch said.

The governments of France, Italy and Germany vastly curtailed the scope of the legislation, limiting its application to very large corporations, excluding certain sectors, and extending the time it would take before the directive comes into force.

On March 15, a majority of ambassadors of EU member states approved the draft law, but only after significantly weakening a text that had been previously approved. On March 18, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee approved the text.

Following the European Parliament’s vote, the law now needs final approval by ministers of EU member states. The EU ministerial vote is expected to take place in late May.

“The European Commission pledged to adopt a law to hold corporations accountable when they took office five years ago,” said Kashyap.

Ministers from EU member states should give a final nod to the text and pave the way for a new chapter on corporate accountability in global supply chains, she added.