Loading page content
Loading page content
Compliance
LkSG obligates the buyer, not the manufacturer. This page sets out who the law actually applies to, what an obligated buyer's own due diligence process asks a supplier for, and what TextileWays can support today, stated plainly rather than implied.
Two separate laws get discussed under this heading, on two different timelines. The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, LkSG, has been in force since 1 January 2023 and has applied to large employers since 1 January 2024. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, CSDDD, is a later, EU wide law with a longer runway: its Omnibus I amendment was published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and entered into force on 18 March 2026, and no company is yet required to comply with it.
Neither law obligates TextileWays directly. Both obligate the buyer, the company placing goods on the German or EU market, above a size threshold. What they change for a supplier is indirect: an obligated buyer has to run due diligence on its own supply chain, and a manufacturer that cannot support that process becomes a harder company to keep buying from, whatever the manufacturer's own legal exposure is.
Scope
LkSG applies to companies with their registered office, principal place of business, or administrative headquarters in Germany that employ at least 1,000 people. The threshold was 3,000 employees through 2023 and dropped to 1,000 from 1 January 2024.
The amended CSDDD applies to companies with more than 5,000 employees and more than 1.5 billion euros in worldwide turnover, a scope the Omnibus I amendment narrowed down from roughly 13,000 companies under the original directive to roughly 6,000. Member States must transpose it into national law by 26 July 2028, and in scope companies must comply from 26 July 2029, with the Article 16 reporting obligation applying only from financial years starting on or after 1 January 2030.
Germany has said it intends to eventually replace LkSG with a national law implementing CSDDD, but as of this page's last review, the final text and whether it will align exactly to the CSDDD's higher employee and turnover threshold had not been confirmed. Until a replacement law is passed, LkSG's existing 1,000 employee threshold is what is actually in force.
A buyer below both thresholds is not legally obligated by either law, though a parent company, an investor or a voluntary code of conduct can still ask a supplier for the same kind of information.
In practice, an obligated buyer's own risk analysis usually reaches into its supply chain as a set of concrete requests to a manufacturer, not a certificate to produce once and forget: a supplier declaration or code of conduct acknowledgement, visibility into who actually makes the product and where, cooperation with a human rights and environmental risk questionnaire, and a way to raise and track a corrective action if the buyer's own review finds something.
None of this requires a manufacturer to hold a specific certification. It requires the manufacturer to be able to answer questions accurately and to cooperate with the buyer's process, which is a different, more basic bar than passing a named audit scheme.
TextileWays does not currently hold a verified third party social or environmental compliance certification. No certification is published on this site because none has been supplied and confirmed; see /certifications for the current, empty registry and why it stays that way until evidence exists.
What is genuinely in place: material origin and specification records are maintained per order from development onward, not assembled after the fact, described in full on /traceability. That is the kind of record a buyer's own risk analysis process typically needs from a supplier, independent of whether a named certification scheme is also involved.
If your due diligence process requires a specific audit, such as BSCI, Sedex SMETA or a similar scheme, say so when you request a quote. We will tell you plainly whether that can be arranged for your order, rather than implying it is already in place.
Sources
Due diligence law is actively moving. Treat the paragraphs above as accurate as of the review dates below, not as a permanent statement, and confirm current requirements with your own legal counsel before relying on them.
Council of the EU, press release on the Omnibus I Directive
Published 24 February 2026, confirming Council approval of the CSDDD and CSRD amendments.
Official Journal of the European Union, Omnibus I Directive
Published 26 February 2026; entered into force 18 March 2026.
Regulatory and legal commentary on the Omnibus I text
Reviewed November 2025 to February 2026 sources confirming the 5,000 employee and 1.5 billion euro turnover CSDDD scope threshold, the 26 July 2028 transposition deadline, the 26 July 2029 application date, and the 1 January 2030 start for Article 16 reporting.
Regulatory commentary on LkSG's current scope
Reviewed as of November 2025, confirming the 1,000 employee threshold in force since 1 January 2024 and that Germany's intended CSDDD implementing law, including its exact threshold, was not yet finalised.
This is not legal advice
Tell us what your compliance team or your buyer's questionnaire actually asks for. We will tell you plainly what can be evidenced for your order today.