Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in the European Union: Towards a More Univocal Framework

7 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2012

See all articles by Ruben Zandvliet

Ruben Zandvliet

Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden Law School

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

The article explores the European legislative framework on corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. European companies have no general legal obligation under EU law to adopt CSR policies or to report on them. However, the 2003 Accounts Modernization Directive, which amends the Fourth and Seventh Directives on Company Law and deals with a range of issues on corporate accounting and reporting, contains some language that hints to such an obligation. The vagueness of this provision, however, has led to diverging applications in the legislation of EU member states. Recently, the European Commission announces that it “will present a legislative proposal on the transparency of the social and environmental information provided by companies in all sectors.” It provides no further details on what should be disclosed to whom. The article examines what the new legislative proposal could do to strengthen the European minimum standard for corporate transparency on social and environmental issues.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Transparency, European Union

Suggested Citation

Zandvliet, Ruben, Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in the European Union: Towards a More Univocal Framework (2011). Columbia Journal of European Law online, Vol. 18, No. 38, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2071934

Ruben Zandvliet (Contact Author)

Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden Law School ( email )

Leiden University Law Faculty
P.O. Box 9520
Leiden, 2300 RA
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://law.leiden.edu/organisation/publiclaw/publicinternationallaw/staff/zandlviet-r.html

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