Clifford Chance

Agreement reached on the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive – what financial services firms need to know

28 March 2024

After months of political wrangling, EU member states have finally reached agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). On 15 March 2024, the Council of the EU reached a compromise on the wording of the CS3D which, if adopted by European Parliament, paves the way for this landmark human rights and environmental due diligence legislation to finally become a reality, albeit in a significantly narrower form than was originally proposed.

One of the most controversial topics to emerge from the political negotiations over the past few years was how CS3D would apply to financial services firms – referred to in the directive as ‘regulated financial undertakings’. In this briefing, we take a look at where we have ended up and what in-scope financial services firms need to be aware of if, as is expected, CS3D becomes law in the EU.

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