What does stakeholders mean?
Stakeholders are the CSDDD people and groups whose rights or interests are or could be affected by a company, its subsidiaries, or its business partners.
stakeholders
A regulatory term referring to the companys employees, the employees of its subsidiaries, trade unions and workers representatives.
1 official sourcessingle_source
Official definitions by source
CSDDD
Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence
the company’s employees, the employees of its subsidiaries, trade unions and workers’ representatives, consumers and other individuals, groupings, communities or entities whose rights or interests are or could be affected by the products, services and operations of the company, its subsidiaries and its business partners, including the employees of the company’s business partners and their trade unions and workers’ representatives, national human rights and environmental institutions, civil society organisations whose purposes include the protection of the environment, and the legitimate representatives of those individuals, groupings, communities or entities;
Reference: Article 3, point n
CSDDD implementation timeline note
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.
Practical application
This term matters when due-diligence processes require meaningful engagement with workers, trade unions, consumers, communities, environmental groups, or other affected people.
Minespider commentary
For Minespider, stakeholders is an engagement-scope term for identifying whose perspective and evidence should inform due-diligence workflows.
Common confusions
- Assuming the everyday meaning of stakeholders is enough without checking the official source definition.
- Using stakeholders as a loose generic label rather than the narrower meaning used in the source text.
- Confusing stakeholders with a neighboring legal actor or responsibility term without checking how the source allocates obligations.