The push to amend the new environmental and human rights rules is part of a broader business-friendly drive to slash EU red tape, paring back a slew of laws on which the ink is barely dry.

Responding to complaints brought by environmental groups over the so-called "simplification" drive, the EU Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, concluded "maladministration" by the commission in a sharply critical report.

Anjinho singled out a "failure to seek a broad, more balanced consultation" on the proposals.

For stakeholder talks held in February, the report found most of those invited were "industry representatives," and that the commission "might have excluded" other potentially interested parties.

It judged that the environmental impact of the proposed review was not properly assessed and that Brussels "failed to sufficiently justify the 'urgency'" of the move.

The Ombudsman also found the commission "limited the possibility of its departments to provide meaningful input" by condensing internal consultations into "less than 24 hours over a weekend".

The EU Ombudsman monitors the functioning of the bloc's administration but has no binding powers.

Still, the ClientEarth pressure group called the report a "vital reminder that the commission is not above the law" and that "civil society must not be sidelined."

The commission has said in the past it held "broad consultations" on the sustainability law review, involving businesses, trade unions and non-governmental organisations.

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires large companies to fix the "adverse human rights and environmental impacts" of their supply chains worldwide.

This means tracking deforestation and pollution that they, as well as their suppliers and subcontractors, cause, plus other issues like forced labour -- and taking steps to curtail them.

The text was one of the first to fall under the axe of Brussels' new drive to make life easier for European industry, struggling in the face of US and Chinese competition.

The laws' entry into force was already delayed from 2027 to 2028 and Brussels now wants to go further by reducing the number of companies covered and their obligations.

This month, conservatives and the far right joined forces in the European Parliament to weaken the text even more, with the changes to be finalised in an ultimate round of negotiations with member states.