Comments on the Open Public Consultation on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) Guidelines

The Federal Association of Corporate Lawyers (BUJ) published a position paper on 12 August 2026 in response to the European Commission's Open Public Consultation on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) Guidelines.

BUJ strongly supports the European Union's efforts to establish comprehensive sustainability due diligence obligations. At the same time, the current regulatory landscape creates significant legal uncertainties and practical implementation challenges that could result in disproportionate compliance burdens for companies. In particular, the lack of coherence between the CS3D and other ESG regulations—notably the Forced Labour Regulation and the EU Deforestation Regulation—creates conflicting obligations that companies cannot reconcile in practice.

The position paper therefore calls for principle-based, flexible guidelines that respect companies' individual risk profiles and business models. Key demands include: interpretative guidance on regulatory conflicts (especially between CS3D's engagement obligation and the Forced Labour Regulation's prohibition mechanism), the establishment of publicly accessible ESG risk databases and an official registry of recognised industry initiatives, clarification that CS3D imposes an obligation of means rather than result, and safe-harbour mechanisms for companies facing legal or practical impossibility of compliance. The guidelines must avoid one-size-fits-all approaches and recognise existing national frameworks and local regulatory systems as risk-reducing factors.

Further details and the full position paper can be found in the attached document.