Regarding the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence initiative proposal presented by the European Commission on Feb. 23, 2022, the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) took the opportunity to call again for a fully harmonized approach of the due diligence topic at the EU level that is harmonized with globally accepted standards on the topic. In a statement published by the federation, it says that “FESI supports the European Commission’s intention to promote human and labor rights in global supply chains, as well as environmental standards. Today’s proposal is a good step to advance harmonization and convergence on due diligence across Europe. To be fully effective, the new EU framework should remain consistent with existing and recognized global standards, such as the OECD guidelines. Imposing disproportionate burdens on companies would risk undermining the overall EU recovery process”. In July 2020, FESI had published a position paper on the issue.
According to the FESI release, a large number of member companies have already installed supply chain compliance management systems, leading to significant improvement for both social and environmental issues. However, FESI warns against any attempt to “reinvent the wheel” and increase the workload for companies to follow the due diligence framework. The federation calls for incentives instead of penalties and wants the EU to prioritize an alignment of the EU framework with internationally recognized standards like the OECD guidelines for responsible product and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
