Activities of Thomas MANN related to 2012/2098(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Corporate social responsibility: accountable, transparent and responsible business behaviour and sustainable growth - Corporate social responsibility: promoting society's interests and a route to sustainable and inclusive recovery (debate)
Amendments (7)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Maintains that the voluntary nature of CSR should again become a key defining characteristic and that the Commission should distinguish more clearly between (1) the original CSR concept, meaning philanthropic action whereby business fulfils its responsibility to society, (2) social action by business, based on laws, rules, and international standards, and (3) antisocial action by business, which violates laws, rules, and international standards and is exploitative by nature, one example being the employment of child or forced labour; regrets that these three aspects are repeatedly lumped together in the CSR debate; roundly condemns antisocial action by business and considers that greater pressure needs to be exerted in order to make countries translate international standards into national law and enforce them; expressly commends business – especially small and medium-sized firms – for their voluntary philanthropic work in which CSR finds expression, and will protect and foster this; is of the opinion that in a free society, business should not be forced to do good works;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Commends the Commission’s intention to conduct Eurobarometer surveys on trust in business; strongly advocates that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can fully contribute to restoring lost confidence, as this is absolutely necessary for economic recovery; points out that many businesses – especially small and medium-sized firms – are setting an outstanding example in this field;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that co- and self-regulation cannot be a substitute for appropriate regulation in any of the areas covered by CSR, but believes that it could underpinphilanthropic CSR activities of businesses must, as a matter of principle, be voluntary; supports and is determined to safeguard existing private and voluntary CSR initiatives; by establishingelieves that minimum principles for CSR, drawn up on a voluntary basis, could be useful in order to ensure consistency, materiality, multi-stakeholder input and transparency;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to launch a ‘Community of Practice’ on CSRsocial action by business; considers that this must be complementary to a code of good practice for co- and self-regulation, allowing all stakeholders to engage in a collective learning process in order to improve the efficiency and accountability of multi- stakeholder CSR actions;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Fully supportsTakes a critical view of the Commission’s intention to bring forward a legislative proposal on ‘non-financial disclosure’ by business; warns that use of the term ‘non- financial’ should not disguise the very real financial consequences for business of social, environmental and human rights impacts; calls for an ambitious proposal which placcannot accept that voluntary philanthropic activities of businesses should be made subject to mandatory reporting, since this is contrary to a free society and would generate red tape and costs that would severely jeopardise voluntary commitment – especially in companies with fewer than 500 employees; calls for much greater differentiation and for the term CSR, which essentially means informal, intuitive support for philanthropic CSR causes, the EU at the heart of the many current international initiatives on mandatory corporate sustainability reporting and which is fully in line with the objective of making Integrated Reporting, as currently developed by the IIRC, the global norm by the end of the decadeo be used more carefully; expressly welcomes the goal of exposing human rights violations and criminal schemes, and urges states to punish these with the utmost rigour; considers that, because of the misdeeds of a few, business as a whole is being pilloried and might be subjected to punishment in the form of reporting requirements, with all the extra work and costs which they entail; calls on the Commission to produce differentiated proposals;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Condemns corporate corruption and tax evasion; calls on the Commission to place new emphasis on these issu in the strongest terms; refuses, however, to bracket these two criminal offences with the concept of CSR, given that CSR denotes philanthropic action by business; categorically rejects sweeping condemnation of business; considers it an unfair strategy to misuse breaches inof the CSR debate under the heading ‘good governance’; law by a handful of companies, which should be roundly condemned in every respect, as a pretext for imposing a general CSR obligation; calls for a far more objective and differentiated approach to the debate;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses thatWould consider it welcome if the link between good corporate responsibility and good corporate governance can onlyould be achieved if CSR isn such a way that CSR would become a mainstream part of the company and also affecting its day-to-day financial strategy; believes that the Commission should explore opportunities to ensure that CSR strategy ismore CSR strategies could be agreed at board level.