La salute e la sicurezza nelle catene del valore: la responsabilità datoriale tra normativa italiana ed europea

Abstract

Corporate liability has acquired relevance both in the media sphere, driven in part by the rise of “consumers’ citizenship”, and in the legal sphere, encompassing civil and criminal dimensions. In the Italian context, the latter is more accurately described as “administrative in form but criminal in substance”.
Corporate liability functions as a core element in shaping soft- and hard-law instruments introducing due-diligence obligations aimed at safeguarding workers’ fundamental rights along global value chains.
The Italian legal system already contains legal tools capable of imposing obligations on companies in this regard, even where no direct contractual relationship with workers exists. In light of the recent adoption of EU Directive 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence, and ahead of its transposition into domestic law, it is necessary to reassess the current Italian framework on corporate liability in matters of occupational health and safety. Such a reassessment is essential both to understand its actual protective function within labour regulation and to explore its potential alignment with the legislative innovations introduced by the Directive.