Sustainable and responsible business: the renewed EU strategy 2011-2014 for corporate social responsibility

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to companies that voluntarily go beyond what the law requires in order to achieve social and environmental objectives during the course of their daily business activities. The European Commission encourages companies to apply fair employment practices that respect human rights particularly where products come from outside the EU. In this contribution the activities of the European Union on Corporate Social Responsibility are analyzed focusing on the 2011-2014 strategy on Corporate Social Responsibility which was published in 2011 and corporate social responsibility reporting and disclosure. The results of the analysis revealed that the European Commission by publishing their new policy on corporate social responsibility intends to enhance positive and to minimize and prevent negative impacts in close collaboration with their stakeholders addressing different actions such as the establishment of sector-based platforms for enterprises and stakeholders to make commitments and jointly monitor progress. The promotion of social and environmental responsibility through the supply-chain and the disclosure of non-financial information are recognised as important cross-cutting issues. Regarding the disclosure the European Commission has different open issues to work on to get a working process for reaching sustainable and responsible businesses.