CSDDD’s legally bounded scope for upstream and selected downstream activities covered by corporate due diligence.
Chain of activities defines where due diligence has to look across upstream and selected downstream activities. It is narrower and more legally shaped than a full value-chain map, and not the same as full value chain analysis.
The CSDDD chain-of-activities definition is a legal boundary. It covers upstream activity and selected downstream activity rather than every relationship or product use that might appear in a commercial value chain.
Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence
(i) activities of a company’s upstream business partners related to the production of goods or the provision of services by that company, including the design, extraction, sourcing, manufacture, transport, storage and supply of raw materials, products or parts of products and the development of the product or the service; and (ii) activities of a company’s downstream business partners related to the distribution, transport and storage of a product of that company, where the business partners carry out those activities for the company or on behalf of the company, and excluding the distribution, transport and storage of a product that is subject to export controls under Regulation (EU) 2021/821 or to the export controls relating to weapons, munitions or war materials, once the export of the product is authorised;
Reference: Article 3, point g
Reviewed public draft page. Aligns with CSDDD due-diligence boundary policy: separates impact classification, legal-source boundaries, response calibration, scope decisions, partner identity, and relationship evidence.
CSDDD entered into force on 25 July 2024. Member State transposition is required by 26 July 2026. The Directive applies first to the largest companies (net turnover > €1.5 billion EU-wide and > 1,000 employees) from 26 July 2027, with phased extension to smaller companies over the following years.
Implementation records should capture activity record, upstream/downstream flag, business-partner link, scope decision, product/service link, activity type, country, evidence source, inclusion/exclusion rationale, and review date.
Chain of activities is the due-diligence scope control for CSDDD evidence. It should link activities, partners, products/services, and inclusion decisions so risk mapping does not drift into either an under-scoped supplier list or an unlimited value-chain map.