The European Commission (EC) has renewed the EU definition for CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. Although a definition is nothing more than a bunch of words, their meaning form a new look at CSR and how to deal with it. Look at this old definition of CSR (from 2001):
“a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis”
And then compare it to the new definition in a recent Communication which set out goals for CSR for the coming years:
“the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”
Isn’t it quite a leap forward to stop defining CSR as something voluntary and instead see it as a responsibility?
The Communication goes further into detail about the new CSR strategy, including an action plan for 2011-2014. If you’re interested in the full text, you can find it here: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/_getdocument.cfm?doc_id=7010
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