France asks EU to delay rights, environment business rules

The call comes as Brussels has vowed to make life easier for firms complaining about excessive regulation, as the 27-nation bloc scrambles to revamp its economic competitiveness.

"Our companies need simplification, not additional administrative burdens," French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad said on social media X, in announcing the request from Paris.

He also asked for a second, much-criticised set of reporting rules on corporate sustainability to be reviewed.

The EU is failing to keep up with the United States and faces mounting competition from China amid an array of challenges including low productivity, slow growth, high energy costs and weak investments.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told this week's gathering of the world's elites in Davos, that Brussels "must make business much easier all across Europe".

"Too many firms are holding back investment in Europe because of unnecessary red tape," she said, adding her European Commission would launch a "far-reaching simplification" - citing the "due diligence" rules France is now asking be suspended.

Under what is officially known as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), big firms are required to identify and address the "adverse human rights and environmental impacts" of their supply chains worldwide.

Approved in March last year, the CSDDD is one of a series of mammoth laws the bloc approved in recent years to fight climate change and improve business practices -- that are now facing renewed scrutiny.

Haddad also called for a review of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires large companies to provide investors and other "stakeholders" with information on their climate impacts and emissions, and the actions being taken to curtail them.

The French government this week described the CSRD rules as "hell for companies", joining a growing chorus of criticism by executives and others arguing requirements are too onerous and could simply be used to "greenwash" a company's record.

Large companies must implement the CSRD for the first time in their annual results for 2024.