Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/2.4.1:2.4.1 Corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/2.4.1

2.4.1 Corporate social responsibility

Documentgegevens:

Mr. T.E. Lambooy, datum 17-11-2010

Datum: 17-11-2010
Auteur: Mr. T.E. Lambooy
JCDI: JCDI:ADS369492:1
Vakgebied(en): Ondernemingsrecht (V)

NGOs1 and international organisations2 were the first to introduce the Planet and People themes. Following this initiative, so-called green and left-wing politicians made a case for having these subjects regulated by law. Meanwhile, many Western countries have a long tradition of statutory protection of employees, human rights and combating corruption. Environmental law has developed more recently, but also goes back several decades. Environmental law usually only involves a company's national environmental or social policy.3 In (non-Western) countries where no such law or no detailed legislation exists, or is not enforced, international companies have to go by their own ethical standards. NGOs, green and left-wing politicians and a number of international organisations have urged international companies to also apply their homestate standards to their business operations in other countries.4 Nowadays, CSR is no longer a topic reserved exclusively for NGOs and a small group of politicians.

The subject of CSR has become mainstream in that it now has the full attention of the Dutch government and the EU. The business community also actively participates in the debate on CSR. Some businesses have indicated that they support CSR for ethical reasons, others for risk management reasons, protection of their reputation, or marketing purposes.5 In this respect, the term marketing is not merely limited to product markets but also pertains to popularity on the labour market and, last but not least, the capital market, in which sustainable investments have really taken off.6 Businesses also participate in the debate because in so doing they try to avoid CSR being forced upon them by way of mandatory rules. They hope that the government will not enact strict, detailed legislation if the business community observes certain self-imposed minimum standards of CSR. A recurring question is whether the businesses who were in the vanguard of the CSR movement are still of the same opinion now.

Indeed, legislation on the subject of CSR will strengthen their competitive position since all companies would then be obliged to spend time and effort on operating in accordance with CSR rules.7

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Including Greenpeace, WWF, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Club of Rome.

Such as the UNEP, the World Commission on Environment and Development, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics, the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation. See further Hurrell and Kingsbury (eds.), supra note 7.

. See: sections 1 and 2 of Labour Conditions Act 1998, which determine that this act applies to employment in the Netherlands and on Dutch vessels and aircraft. The Environmental Management Act (Wet Milieubeheer) also applies to locations in the Netherlands only.

In 2001 the Dutch Green Party and the Dutch Labour Party submitted a Private Member's bill to the Dutch House of Representatives for the amendment of Article 2: 391 of DCC, relating to the annual report. The bill suggested obliging corporations that operate on an international level to include their ecological, social and ethical policies and the measures taken to execute these policies in their annual reports, and to give information in their reports about any codes of conduct that they have adopted or subscribe to. This information would also include subsidiaries and group companies. Kamerstukken II 2000/01, 27 905 [Parliamentary documents], nos. 1-3. The Bill was still pending by 2010; see for the text (in Dutch): https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-27905-3.html and for the status in the legislative process: http://www.vng.nl/smartsite.dws?id=92856#2, both sites visited on 7 September 2010. The EP made similar proposals to the European Commission. See § 2.6.1.2 and further Woodin and Lucas, supra note 8.

Until 1996 all shares in Royal Packaging Industries Van Leer NV were held by the Van Leer Foundation. In 1996 part of the shares were listed on the stock exchange. The Van Leer Foundation spends the paid dividend on projects for deprived children in the countries where the Van Leer business operates, see: http: //www.business.com/directory/industrial_goods_and_services/packaging_and_containers/metal_containers/royal_packaging_industries_ van_leer_n_v/profile. Also see: the Body Shop, at http: //www.thebodyshopinternational.com /web/tbsgl/values.jsp, Organic shops at, http: //www.denatuurwinkel.com/nw.All sites are visited on 1 June 2010. Green butchers and organic farmers are examples of the first ethical perspective. A number of multinationals and large banks are examples of businesses that take a risk-management approach, see e.g. R. van Tulder and A. van der Zwart, supra note 12 and the CSR reports of ABN AMRO bank and ING bank for 2003.

See e.g. Fortis Investments and Deminor sign co-operation agreement on CSR proxy voting, Press release 24 March 2004; Het Financieele Dagblad, 25 March 2004. It stated that Fortis Investments will take into consideration the extent to which European firms stand the test of corporate social responsibility when deciding to invest. See further, De Duurzaam Geld Gids [the Sustainable Money Guide], 2002 edition, Consumentenbond [Consumers' Association], DHV [an international consulting engineers office] and VBDO [Associaton of Investors for Sustainable Development], Groen Beleggen, Wegwijzer in groene financiering, groenprojecten en groenfondsen, [Green investments, Guide to green investments, green projects and green funds], Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), 2003; Jaaroverzicht van de Bank voor de Wereld van Morgen [Annual Review of the Bank for the World of Tomorrow], ASN Bank 2002; ING in de Samenleving 2003 [ING in Society] 2003, p. 13. E. Goudswaard and J. Jansen, 'Duurzaam beleggen groeit vooral door inzet particuliere belegger', [Sustainable investments are on the rise thanks to efforts of private investors] in Het Financieele Dagblad, 18 November 2004; R. Wuijster, 'Duurzaam beleggen blijkt een blijvertje' [Sustainable development is here to stay] in Het Financieele Dagblad, 25 September 2004; VBDO Nieuwsbrief [Newsletter] no. 6, 2004, 26 September 2004, at http://www.vbdo.nl/index.php7nl/sri, visited on 1 March 2010.

This was proposed by a number of representatives of large companies at the plenary session of the three-day European Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility in Maastricht, (8-10 November 2004) on 8 November 2004 (below: the Maastricht EUCSR in which the author participated). The aim of this conference was to formulate concrete steps to be taken within the European Union before 2010, http://www.csr2004.nl, visited on 2 December 2004.