What is Corporate Social Responsibility? - InnoTrain CSR

esponsibilities of the countries should not be taken over by organisations acting in a
socially responsible manner. In fact, one of the important duties of the nations is to
create suitable framework conditions to promote the "Social Responsibility" of
organisations.
ISO 26000 identifies seven core topics concerting social responsibility of
organisations and describes the associated guiding principles as well as specific
fields of action and activities in these areas.
Core topics and fields of action include:
1. Organisational management (responsible processes and structures)
2. Human rights (e.g. due diligence, prevention of complicity, discrimination,
international law standards and core labour standards of the ILO)
3. Work practices (e.g. social dialogue / pay scale principles, protection of the
health)
4. Environment (e.g. prevention of environmental impacts, sustainable use of
resources, adjustment to climate change, protection of natural habitats)
5. Decent behaviour and conduct of organisations (e.g. anti-corruption, political
involvement, fair competition, promotion of corporate responsibility, respect of
property rights)
6. Consumer concerns (e.g. reasonable marketing, information and contract
design, protection of the health and safety of consumers, sustainable
consumption, customer service, confidentiality of customer information)
7. Regional integration and development of the environment (e.g. integration into
the region, education and culture, creation of work places, development of
technologies, investment for the common welfare)
ISO 26000 is not a management system standard and is therefore not intended or
suitable for certification purposes or for legal and contractual use. Certification offers
or the claim to be ISO 26000-certified would therefore be a misinterpretation of the
intention and purpose of the international standard.
Moreover, the standard is not at all intended to replace, modify or alter in any other
way any national obligations. Nevertheless there is a fear that experts and consulting
companies will be offering alleged "seals of approval" in the future to certify the
company's compliance with the ISO guideline.
The controversy about the benefit of ISO 26000 does not end against this backdrop.
According to the Federal Association of Germany Industry (BDI), ISO 26000 is raising
fears in the industry if companies are forced by the market to have their actions
evaluated for compatibility with a standard which does not contain data that is
accessible for the evaluation of conformity. Based on this, there is a fear of
distortions of the competition at a larger scale which may have a greater impact on
smaller enterprises which have not yet established comprehensive CSR guidelines.
However, companies which had already been developing and successfully using
The project "InnoTrain CSR" is organized by GILDE GmbH and has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 12/2010
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InnoTrain CSR
www.csr-training.eu