4.4.4 Reporting on employee matters

The same could be said in respect of the Dutch legislator's comment that the new obligation to report on employee matters is identical to that included in article 2:391, paragraph 2 DCC. This explanation does not seem very consistent, since paragraph 2 was to remain unchanged. Since, in addition to the existing paragraph 2, the act implementing the Modernisation Directive in Dutch law has introduced a new paragraph 1 that requires reporting on 'employee matters', one could deduce that something else is meant than the already existing and unchanged text. The existing text prescribed the inclusion of information on the work force meaning, how many employees work for the company. As argued in section 4.2.5 above, the author believes that the new text has a different and much broader meaning.

Any reference in Dutch legislative history to the existing practice of preparing a so-called 'Social Report' pursuant to the Labour Conditions Act, should also be put in the right legal perspective. Such a Social Report is addressed to the company's employees. It does not have to be publicly released. More importantly, a Social Report only relates to production facilities in the Netherlands. A company does not have to include information on its foreign production sites. In addition, the report mainly describes the safety and health situation rather than providing a full picture of all matters relevant from a CSR perspective.1