NGOs demand for regulation is supported by a broad range of stakeholders

Brussels, 6 December – The European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) and the Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) today propose that a legal framework is developed to ensure that corporations behave in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. They see the CSR approach adopted by the European Commission unpromising and misguided.

Civil society groups have decided not to participate in tomorrow’s multi-stakeholder forum organised by the European Commission, because the narrow focus will only address voluntary measures, while it has been proven that this approach is not sufficient to solve social and
environmental problems related to corporate behaviour. To put a regulatory approach back on the agenda, NGOs host a conference today for representatives from governments, enterprises, trade unions and the European Institutions.

Paul de Clerck, steering group member of ECCJ and Corporate Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: “If European companies do not respect human rights and environmental interests in other parts of the world, we need to ensure that affected people can find justice and hold companies accountable.”

“High profile stakeholders from retail company Carrefour, the French government and European trade unions are all pleading for a level playing field on Corporate Social Responsibility. Rules and regulations to ensure corporate accountability are not only to protect affected communities but they are in the interests of the companies as well.”

At the conference today, NGOs will propose the following measures which will contribute to corporate accountability:

Richard Howitt, UK Socialist MEP and rapporteur for the European Parliament’s current report on CSR, said:

“There is a very strong case for companies to report their social and environmental impacts on a mandatory basis. And even before this is introduced, the European Commission should be enforcing existing laws to test the transparency and credibility of current CSR initiatives.”

For more information, please contact:

Virginie Giarmana at European Coalition for Corporate Justice,
Email: info[at]corporatejustice[dot]com

Rosemary Hall at Friends of the Earth Europe,
Email: rosemary.hall[at]foeeurope[dot]org

Karine Appy at Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme,
Email: kappy[at]fidh[dot]org

(Press release from European Coalition for Corporate Justice)