14 Amendments of Caterina CHINNICI related to 2022/0051(COD)
Amendment 264 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) Children have specific rights enshrined in Article 24 of the Charter and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. As such, the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in all matters, including remedies, affecting them;
Amendment 274 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Existing international standards on responsible business conduct specify that companies should protect human rights and set out how they should address the protection of the environment across their operations and value chains. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights79 recognise the responsibility of companies to exercise human rights due diligence by identifying, preventing and mitigating the adverse impacts of their operations on human rights and by accounting for how they address those impacts. Those Guiding Principles state that businesses should avoid infringing human rights and should address adverse human rights impacts that they have caused, contributed to or are linked with in their own operations, subsidiaries and through their direct and indirect business relationships. The Children’s Rights and Business Principles provide a comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they can take in the workplace, marketplace and community to uphold and promote children’s rights. General comment No. 16 (2013) to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, which are further specified in General comment No. 25 (2021) as regards the digital environment. _________________ 79 United Nations’ “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”, 2011, available at https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publicati ons/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf.
Amendment 335 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18 a (new)
Recital 18 a (new)
(18a) Companies whose primary activity revolves around children or provide services likely to be accessed by children or likely to have an impact on children shall put in place specific measures to embed safety-by-design features so as to mitigate any potential harm or adverse consequences prior the development of the product or the service;
Amendment 370 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) In order to conduct appropriate human rights, children's rights and environmental due diligence with respect to their operations, their subsidiaries, and their value chains, companies covered by this Directive should integrate due diligence into corporate policies, identify, prevent and mitigate as well as bring to an end and minimise the extent of potential and actual adverse human rights and environmental impacts, establish and maintain a complaints procedure, monitor the effectiveness of the taken measures in accordance with the requirements that are set up in this Directive and communicate publicly on their due diligence. In order to ensure clarity for companies, in particular the steps of preventing and mitigating potential adverse impacts and of bringing to an end, or when this is not possible, minimising actual adverse impacts should be clearly distinguished in this Directive.
Amendment 757 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point l
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point l
(l) ‘severe adverse impact’ means an adverse environmental impact or an adverse human rights impact that is especially significant by its nature, or affects a large number of persons, particularly vulnerable persons such as children, or a large area of the environment, or which is irreversible, or is particularly difficult to remedy as a result of the measures necessary to restore the situation prevailing prior to the impact;
Amendment 817 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Children require a higher level of protection from adverse impacts caused by the behaviour of companies. Given children's unique stage of physical and psychological development, adverse impacts can be long-lasting and even irreversible. Consequently, companies should include specific provisions in their due diligence rules that take into account children's vulnerability;
Amendment 886 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Member States shall ensure that companies whose services are likely to be accessed by or likely to have an impact on children, shall take specific measures to identify actual and potential adverse impacts on children's rights. When designing or developing new services or products, companies shall analyse and assess any systemic risks stemming from the functioning and use of their services and products by children in the European Union.
Amendment 890 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. The development of a product or a service likely to be accessed by or likely to have an impact on children shall comply with specific standards for safety and safety-by-design tools.
Amendment 936 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
(aa) Conduct child impact assessments, including prior to the development of a product or service likely to be accessed by or likely to have an impact on a child. Considering the particularly high risk of adverse impacts on children in the digital environment, providers of hosting or interpersonal electronic communication services and providers of hosting services shall perform risk assessments specific to their services that meet the highest European or International standards. Assessments should include the following systemic risks: a. the dissemination of illegal content or behaviour enabled or manifested as a result of their services; b. any negative effects for the exercise of the rights of the child, as enshrined in Article 24 of the Charter and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and detailed in the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child General comment No.25 as regards the digital environment; c. any intended or unintended consequences resulting from the operation or intentional manipulation of their service, including by means of inauthentic use or automated exploitation of the service, with an actual or foreseeable negative effect on the protection of the rights of children;
Amendment 939 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a b (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a b (new)
(ab) Implement regulatory frameworks, industry codes and terms of services that adhere to the highest available standards of ethics, safety, security, and sustainability in relation to the design, production, operation, distribution, and marketing of their products or services;
Amendment 949 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) seek contractual assurances from a business partner with whom it has a direct business relationship that it will ensure compliance with the company’s code of conduct and, as necessary, a prevention action plan, child impact assessments, including by seeking corresponding contractual assurances from its partners, to the extent that their activities are part of the company’s value chain (contractual cascading). When such contractual assurances are obtained, paragraph 4 shall apply;
Amendment 1042 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 3 – point a a (new)
Article 8 – paragraph 3 – point a a (new)
(aa) Adapt or remove system design or product development features that expose children to content, contact, conduct, and contract risks, as identified in the child impact assessment; adapt the features or functioning of their services and products and their terms and conditions to ensure they prioritise the best interests of the child;
Amendment 1137 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that companies provide the possibility for persons and organisations listed in paragraph 2 to submit complaints to them where they have legitimate concerns regarding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts and adverse environmental impacts with respect to their own operations, the operations of their subsidiaries and their value chains. Companies shall ensure that their internal complaint-handling and redress systems are easy to access and child-friendly, and enable and facilitate the submission of sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated complaints;
Amendment 1158 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) persons who are affected or have reasonable grounds to believe that they might be affected by an adverse impact, in case the complainant is a child, a legal guardian may bring a complaint on behalf of the child.