<span style="color: #222222;">The European Parliament Legal Committee and EU governments today agreed on new rules for large companies that will require them to check and remedy negative social and environmental impacts in their operations.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to media reports, the rules will also apply to some 4,000 international corporations with a significant foothold in the European Union.   </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Under the agreement, EU-based companies of a certain size will be accountable for adverse human rights and environmental impacts, involved in their value chain, such as child labor, slavery, pollution, and biodiversity loss.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will be mandatory for about 13,000 large companies based in the bloc. It also includes those headquartered elsewhere that do major business in the EU.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The agreement still has to be confirmed by the European Parliament and EU states.</span><br />