Did the Global South Have Their Say on EU Supply Chain Regulation?

This study uses data from the European Union's (EU's) "Have Your Say" platform to examine how actors from the Global South responded to the European Commission's formal consultation process on the initiative that ultimately produced the Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Actors from the Global South who participated in the consultation overwhelmingly supported the proposed due diligence framework. However, the total number of participants from the Global South was relatively small, and businesses in the Global South and from the countries in the South likely to be most affected by the proposal were poorly represented. Virtually all of the participants from the South had connections to NGOs based in the North, but a text analysis suggests that they did not play a significant role in the alliances that formed to comment on the proposal. These findings call into question the strength of the EU's commitment to including affected actors from the Global South in regulatory processes. They also challenge the legitimacy and, potentially, the effectiveness of the CSDDD. Our findings are consistent with two distinct but not mutually exclusive hypotheses. First, actors from the South may have limited capabilities to participate in formal consultation processes. Second, they may believe that they lack the power to influence outcomes through formal consultation processes.