Best practice & Ethics
European Parliament supports more action on CSR
The European Parliament has
backed plans to allow victims of European companies’ social and
environmental actions to seek redress through national courts by approving a
report on corporate social responsibility (CSR).
The Parliament backed the report’s proposed introduction of mandatory
environmental and social reporting, and called on member states and the European
Commission to support the ILO’s core standards on labour as part of this
approach.
The Parliament also noted, however, that markets and companies are at different
stages of development across Europe, and therefore a one-size-fits-all method
for corporate behaviour is not appropriate and will not lead to a meaningful
uptake of CSR by companies.
UK MEP Richard Howitt, author of the report, said he was attempting to bridge
the divide between voluntary and regulatory approaches to CSR that has seen the
EU’s multi-stakeholder forum boycotted by groups such as Amnesty International
and Oxfam.
Howitt said, “For too long the European debate on social responsibility has
been inward looking and negative. This vote will inject new momentum into the
discussion; [and] hopefully … get everyone back around the table by finding a
reasonable mix of voluntary and regulatory approaches”.
The European Trade Union Confederation
considered the report had achieved this goal, bringing the CSR debate back onto
track after the recent work of the multi-stakeholder forum seemed to have lost
its way on such areas as multilateralism, accountability and transparency.
The UEAPME, a pan-European
employers’ organisation representing small and medium-sized companies, agreed
that the vote represented a “valuable damage limitation exercise”.
“Nevertheless,” warned UEAPME secretary general Hans-Werner Müller, “the final
text still suffers from the poor wording … which showed a worrying lack of
understanding on the nature and role of CSR activities, especially as far as
small businesses are concerned”.
Links
European Parliament
Report on CSR
Adopted Resolution on CSR
European Trade Union Confederation
UEAPME
April, 2007 |
