The ECCJ seminar was hosted by Journalists @ Your Service in Brussels Monday February 1, 2010 from 10.00 – 13.00 in the J@YS meeting room. The panel consisted of Pedro Ortún (Director, responsible for CSR, the Standardisation Policy, Tourism and the “New Approach Industries” at Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, European Commission); Pervenche Berès (Chairwoman of Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and member of Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament); Carlos López, Legal Officer at the International Economic Relations unit, International Commission of Jurists; and Elin Wrzoncki, director at the globalization and human rights desk of FIDH.
Please find attached the agenda and a background piece on issues of corporate accountability at the EU level, which includes a description of ECCJ.
EU2020 must prioritise corporate accountability
The business activities of multinational corporations influence almost every aspect of development in our societies. Unfortunately, this influence is not always positive. From mercury poisoning in South Africa to child labour in India, company breaches of environmental and human rights standards have revealed systemic failings in the operation of many companies -including European ones- that have resulted in environmental and social harm over many years. The ongoing economic and financial crises have further underlined the interdependence
of our globalised world. Today, EU legal frameworks fail to regulate this vicious influence in order to protect public interests against undesired adverse impacts of corporate operations.
A new sustainable social market economy, as is currently outlined in the EU2020 consultation document, must also include concrete policy proposals to address this situation. Unethical operations of European companies have adverse systemic effects in their own national markets as well as in the EU internal market. Currently, the situation in the internal market is such that responsible businesses are competitively disadvantaged and forced to follow the same path and relocate or outsource their production. This contributes to undesired patterns in
market development, such as disadvantaging small enterprises or hampering required systemic shifts to a low carbon economy. The financial markets furthermore reward companies for the aforementioned additional profits that are reflected in the value of their shares, limiting investors’ interest in other companies.
This is clearly not in line with the principle of creating value nor with the promotion of European values. The new Internal Market Commissioner-designate, Michel Barnier, insisted during his hearing in the European Parliament on the 13th of January for men and women to be at the heart of the EU internal market. He also stressed the need for the EU internal market to be at the service of citizens, and not the other way around. The EU2020 document also underscores this point very clearly: “we need a new agenda that puts people and responsibility first.” This can only happen if the EU2020 agenda takes into account the indispensable role that corporate accountability and CSR must play in ensuring a more competitive economy but also to ensure that the achievement of EU’s social, economic and environmental goals go hand in hand.
As stated in the Commission staff working document accompanying the European Competitiveness Report of 20081 “CSR needs to be part of core business strategy if it is to be a competitive differentiator. In this way CSR can also help to strengthen the European social model (…) Enterprises in which CSR remains a peripheral concern, mainly confined to public relations functions, are likely to miss opportunities for competitiveness gains”. That same document states that CSR can make a valuable contribution to the goals of the European Growth and
Jobs strategy. Thus, EU2020 being the continuation of that very strategy, really falls short if it does not consider corporate accountability and CSR at its core.
Read the whole submission by downloading the attachment below.
Corporations are all too often not directly liable for human rights violations they cause or that they are complicit in. They benefit from impunity as long as their behaviour is approved by the state of which the contested corporate activity took place. Furthermore, multinational enterprises normally consist of many separate legal persons. The twin concept of separate legal personality and limitations on their liability shields parent companies (and their directors) from being liable for misconduct of their subsidiaries and contractors unless they take active role in managing these subsidiaries at the operational level. Regulation and a change in corporate culture is required to ensure corporations fulfil their environmental and human rights obligations. ECCJ therefore considers as a priority the following changes to the EU legal framework:
Companies operating within the jurisdictions of EU Member States shall have a duty of care not to commit or be complicit in human rights abuses.
Companies operating within the jurisdictions of EU Member States shall have a duty of care to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses in their sphere of responsibility, which includes their subsidiaries and commercial partners, owed to potential victims of such abuses.
Directors and responsible corporate officers shall be liable for that their corporations don’t breach the liabilities imposed on them by the measures described above, as well as for their own compliance.
The TV channel ARTE runned a special on child labour and the limitations of ethical labelling on November 25 which featured ECCJ and our demands to the EU. The documentary was shown in the program ZoomEuropa and can be seen in French and German speaking countries in Europe.
The programme is now available online here.
Tune in!
Workers in global food and clothing supply chains face some of the most exploitative conditions of work. And yet, supermarkets, retail chains, amongst others are making greater and greater profits. Are they, and can they, be made accountable for the denial of decent work to their workers?
Come and hear testimonies from grassroots workers and join in the debate with experts from the EU institutions, NGOs (such as ECCJ), trade unions and progressive business on what steps the EU can take to ensure that companies are held accountable for decent work and how those facing abuses can access their rights.
The event will take place in the European Parliament between 9:00 and 13:00 and will be hosted by Richard Howitt MEP and Pervenche Berès MEP. This event is jointly organised by Solidar, War on Want and ECCJ.
Registration is needed. Please register here
“The European Union and its Member States should take a global lead and serve as a good example on CSR when building markets, combating corruption, safeguarding the environment and ensuring human dignity and human rights in the workplace”. This is the opening statement of the joint declaration the Swedish EU presidency and the Spanish upcoming one have made public today (November 11th) in Stockholm.
The declaration comes a result of a 2 day conference organised by the EU Swedish presidency and the European Commission with the objective to move forward on the operationalisation of the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” UN framework on the issue of Business and Human Rights at the EU level.
The declaration can be found here and also attached below.
Participants in the conference have discussed at length the implications of the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework in the EU context.
The European Coalition for Corporate Justice has welcomed the Swedish initiative and has actively participated in the conference by speaking in the panel dedicated to “The state as a regulator”.
Find ECCJ’s intervention below.
More information about the conference, the opening speeches by keynote speakers such as John Ruggie, Mary Robinson or the Swedish Trade minister Ewa Björling can be found here.
