The corporate responsibility for human rights within the european legal area

• Author: Alina Angela Manolescu - Manolescu Adriana
• Position: Assist.Candidate to Ph.D. 'S. Pio V' University of Rome - AGORA University, Law and Economics Faculty
• Pages: 140-145

THE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WITHIN

THE EUROPEAN LEGAL AREA

Alina Angela Manolescu

Assist.Candidate to Ph.D. „S. Pio V” University of Rome

a.a.manolescu@gmail.com

Professor Ph.D. Adriana Manolescu

AGORA University

Law and Economics Faculty

adrianamanolescu@gmail.com

Abstract : This article analyses the concept of corporate social responsibility and the role

of profit-oriented businesses in the European legal area. The subject is viewed in the optic of the

regional initiative of respecting human rights standards in European Union. The European legal

area is a dynamic institutional frame that consents a constant institutional evolution using different

juridical instruments. In this area we examine the European Union’s approach to corporate social

responsibility. This approach is at a crucial stage of development, given the globalized operations

and the transnational dimension of European corporations. The main conclusion is that the

regional approach of European Union represents a positive towards the regulation of corporate

entities, but a more oriented approach on the role of Courts and the derivate law is preferred.

Key words: transnational, corporations, responsibility, globalization, European law

The European legal area indicates the union of juridical orders determined with the

constitution of European Union in 1992. This particular „order of orders” is composed by the

juridical order of the European Communities, integrated by the politics and the forms of

cooperation instituted by the European Union Treaty and by the juridical orders of the Member

states. The subjects of the Unions` order are the States, the European people and the Member States

citizens that have not only the national citizenship but also the European one. (art. 17, c. 1, TCE).

The European legal area is one of the main juridical connotation of the EU and it represents

the constitutional innovations of the Treaty of Maastricht. In this occasion it was establish the

principle of coexistence of European Communities and the Member States and the

intergovernmental cooperation, with flexible procedures.

Recent economic globalization and trade liberalization have given multinational enterprises

considerable economic power that often surpasses that of states. While states are subject to various

international and internal mechanisms designed to prevent them from abusing their powers,

multinational enterprises are traditionally bound by national laws of limited geographical scope. In

the global market, where legislation tends to vary considerably from one country to another, little

exists in terms of universal standards applicable to multinational corporations.

In this framework of globalization the law acquires a “transnational language”

1

that refers to

all the legislation of the transnational relations. It is important to note that transnational doesn’t

mean international. The international dimension is that of states, while the transnational space is

that of mobile subjects, such as transnational corporations, that are continuously present within this

dimension.

In Europe there are more than 100 multinational corporations and the most efficient

international human rights mechanism in the world - the European Court of Human Rights - found

in 2000 over 400 violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, legally binding upon its

signatories. The scope of this mechanism is, however, limited to violations committed by state

actors. Victims of violations committed by private entities such as multinational enterprises cannot

seek remedy before the court unless some kind of state involvement is implicated.

1

M. R. Ferrarese, Il diritto al presente. Globalizzazione e tem po delle istituzioni, Il Mulino Saggi, 2002