📊 CSDDD: Before vs. After the Omnibus I Rollback
| Dimension | Original Directive (2024) | Post-Omnibus (2026) |
| Company size threshold | 1,000+ employees, €450m turnover | 5,000+ employees, €1.5bn turnover |
| Companies in scope | ~3,400 corporate groups | 1,447 corporate groups (2,907 firms) |
| National transposition deadline | 26 July 2026 | 26 July 2028 |
| Enforcement start | 2027 (phased) | 26 July 2029 |
| Mandatory climate transition plans | Required | Removed |
| EU-wide harmonised civil liability | Included | Removed |
For two years, Bangladesh’s export sector has been bracing for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) — a law that would force big European buyers to police human rights and environmental standards deep into their supply chains, including RMG factories in Dhaka, Chattogram and beyond. That law has just been dramatically rewritten, and the headline is simple: fewer companies, more time, less legal teeth.
On 24 February 2026, EU member states gave final approval to the “Omnibus I” package, a sweeping simplification drive that reopened the CSDDD less than two years after it entered into force. The changes, in force since 18 March 2026, cut the directive’s scope by roughly 70%. Instead of applying to companies with 1,000+ employees and €450 million turnover, CSDDD now only binds companies with more than 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in worldwide turnover. According to research group SOMO, that leaves just 2,907 companies across 1,447 corporate groups in scope — down from an original pool of around 3,400 corporate groups.
The timeline has also stretched. EU member states now have until 26 July 2028 to write the rules into national law, with enforcement not beginning until 26 July 2029 — five years after the original directive took effect. Mandatory climate transition plans have been deleted entirely, and the EU-wide harmonised civil liability rule — which would have let victims of supply chain harm sue for damages — has also been struck out.
Civil society groups have not stayed quiet. Bangladeshi labour activist Kalpona Akter has publicly criticised the rollback as corporate-driven deregulation that favours big business over workers’ rights, arguing it jeopardises hard-won protections built into global supply chains. Over 200 companies and investors — including major Bangladesh buyer H&M — had earlier urged the EU not to weaken the rules in the first place.
Here’s the part Bangladeshi exporters can’t afford to miss: legal scope is not the same as buyer expectation. European brands sourcing from Bangladesh are already restructuring supplier onboarding, requesting human rights and environmental due diligence evidence, and tightening procurement contracts — regardless of what the statute technically requires in 2029. Banks and export credit agencies are increasingly pricing in ESG-linked risk before any regulator asks a single question.
In other words, the compliance deadline moved. The competitive deadline didn’t. Factories and exporters that wait for legal enforcement to catch up may find themselves negotiating from a position of weakness with buyers who already expect audit-ready supply chain data. Understanding what “due diligence evidence” actually looks like — and building the systems to produce it — remains a race worth running early, whichever way Brussels’ clock is set.
