Relaxation of the EU supply chain law

The EU Parliament has adopted its position on simplified sustainability and due diligence obligations. After the EU Legal Affairs Committee's position on this was rejected in plenary in October, Parliament has now voted on possible changes to the Commission's original proposal for simplified sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations for companies. The draft law aims to reduce the number of companies required to report and to make it much easier for companies to comply with due diligence obligations. After the thresholds have been raised, only companies with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of at least 1.5 billion euros will be affected by the due diligence obligations in the future. Only companies with 1,750 employees and more than 450 million euros should be required to report on sustainability. The revised rules are part of the European Commission's "Omnibus I" simplification package. The vote caused discussion in advance. The leaders of the EPP, Liberals and Social Democrats had recently agreed on a compromise on the EU supply chain law in parliament, but the deal surprisingly failed in the secret vote in October due to numerous dissenters. The EPP group blamed the social democratic S&D group for this. Attention: The voting results shown on the right only reflect the voting behavior of the 96 German MEPs and not that of all 720 MEPs. The new negotiating position was adopted overall with 382 votes in favour, 249 against and 13 abstentions. A majority, primarily from conservatives and far-right factions, voted in favor of weakening the supply chain law. Among the German MEPs, 48 ​​MEPs from the ESN, EPP and Renew factions voted in favor. 32 MPs from the Greens/EFA, S&D and The Left factions voted against it. There were five abstentions from Manuela Ripa (EPP Group) and four other non-attached MPs. As of December 16, 2025: The EU MPs have finally decided on the changes to the Supply Chain Act. Following the Council's approval, the regulation will now come into force in a weaker form and later than planned. The revised rules are intended to apply to fewer companies, limit some obligations for companies and thereby strengthen the EU's competitiveness. Only EU companies with an average of more than 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than 450 million euros will have to comply with reporting obligations in the future.

Vote breakdown