Administrative and legal enforcement of introducing corporate sustainability due diligence: EU approach

The article examines the issues of implementing the concept of corporate sustainability due diligence, which in recent years has attracted increasing attention from scholars, practitioners, and legislators and policymakers in countries around the world. The key objective of the study was to analyze the European Union’s approach to administrative and legal enforcement of introducing corporate sustainability due diligence, taking into account the current processes of adapting Ukrainian legislation to EU law. In this research, the author focuses on foreign and domestic legislative sources, in particular Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence in the field and National Program for the Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to the Law of the European Union, as well as recent scientific publications by leading foreign scholars in the relevant field. The research found that one of the key features of the approach to administrative and legal support for the implementation of corporate sustainability due diligence applied in the EU is the combination of building capable supervisory authorities and creating the necessary framework for providing guidance and support from EU member states and institutions to businesses and relevant stakeholders. The performed analysis shows that the scope of activities of future supervisory bodies will cover a wide range of business issues and various branches of law, which requires providing such bodies with the necessary resources and fairly broad powers. The article emphasizes the importance of developing both identified components of the EU approach to administrative and legal enforcement of introducing corporate sustainability due diligence. To this end, the author proposes a number of recommendations that can be applied in the process of adapting Ukrainian legislation to EU law.