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New communication on CSR
NGOs denounce "verbal concessions to other stakeholders, which will however have no real impact"

Brussels, 22 March 2006 - The EU Commission is today launching an alliance with the industry to promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). NGOs denounce a PR operation that will have no serious impact on environmental or social issues.

As written in a letter sent to all its members, industry group UNICE has stated that the communication "establishes a strong, but carefully nuanced link between CSR and the jobs and growth strategy".

The EU proposal proposes indeed the creation of an open 'European Alliance.to make Europe a pole of excellence on CSR in support of a competitive and sustainable enterprise and market economy'. But CSR is mainly seen as 'a business opportunity creating win-win situations for companies and society'.

NGOs and social representatives of Civil Society had no chance to comment or participate in the process which led to this alliance. All the recommendations and proposals they made before and during the Multi-stakeholders Forum have never been taken seriously. As mentioned in the UNICE letter, "a few passages in the communication must be interpreted as verbal concessions to other stakeholders, which will however have no real impact".

Emphasis in the EU proposal is put on growth and competitiveness: CSR is a way 'to help SME (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) to flourish and growth' instead of improving the responsibility, sustainability and accountability of companies.

Joris Oldenziel, from the 'Center for research on Multinational Corporations', one of the founding members of the new NGO coalition(1), said: " This communication will only give a "social touch" to business, but there is no real commitment to improve the responsibility and the accountability of companies. All the negative impacts businesses have on environment, social and human rights are not tackled. "

The Commission's proposal does not include NGOs recommendations such as:

• ensuring accountability of companies to their stakeholders
• social and environmental reporting requirements
• using public policy measures such as public procurement and public subsidies to stimulate responsible behavior
• Implementing international standards and principles
• involving stakeholders from the early stages of CSR strategy development
• ensuring independent monitoring/verification

"The commission cannot ignore civil society. We will go on fighting for real and efficient accountability of companies", said Oldenziel.

Contacts:

For more information, please contact:
Paul de Clerck at Friends of the Earth Europe, + 32-2-5426107
Joris Oldenziel at SOMO, 31-20-6391291

Notes:

(1) The Steering Group of the new NGO Coalition consists of Manitese from Italy, the Dutch MVO platform (the Dutch NGO Coalition on CSR), CORE UK (the UK NGO coalition on CSR), Germanwatch, Forum Citoyen pour la RSE France (the French NGO coalition on CSR) and SETEM (the Spanish NGO coalition on CSR)

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