In mid-December, the European Parliament and the Council (the twenty-seven states of the European Union) reached an agreement to impose a duty of vigilance on companies. For their products to have access to European markets, all companies will have to respect social, environmental and human rights obligations.
It was designed for large companies, but, for several sectors, it must apply from 40 million euros in turnover and 250 employees. The text was even described as “historic” by its signatories because it makes companies responsible towards their subcontractors outside Europe.