Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility

• Author: Tineke Lambooy
• Position: Molengraaff Institute for Private Law and the Research Institute of Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
• Pages: 1-6

Tineke Lambooy, ‘Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility’ (2014)

30(78) Utrecht Journal of International and European Law 1, DOI: http://

dx.doi.org/10.5334/ujiel.bz

We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the

world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great

promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnicent diversity of cultures and

life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.

Preamble of the Earth Charter1

Indeed, the world is becoming increasingly interdependent and fragile due to a growing population search-

ing for more material wealth, the scarcity of resources, the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, climate

change, shifts in power between States and also between States and multinational companies, wars and

international peace processes. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are playing an ever increasing role in this

arena: applying environmental care (or not), producing and selling arms (or not), paying a decent salary to

their employees (or not), offering remedies to victims of human rights abuses and environmental pollution

(or not), paying bribes to judges and other people in power (or not), lobbying for or against legal measures

to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (GHG), sponsoring political campaigns, and so forth.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a well known concept over the last decade and a half.2

Employees, government representatives, academic scholars, NGOs and international organisations have been

contemplating which role they have to play in regard of CSR. Laws have been drafted that promote socially

responsible behaviour by companies.3 International organisations have promoted principles. Companies

have adopted CSR mission statements and programmes, and are sharing their efforts through sustainability

reports. NGOs have contacted companies and pointed out how they can operate in a more responsible way,

and academics have analysed all.

CSR is a subject that has links with many areas of law, including international law and European law,

corporate law and corporate governance, tort law and contract law, procedural law, labour and environ-

mental law, and criminal law. All of these areas contribute importantly to the development of CSR, and

ultimately to respond to the serious challenges that this world faces. This special issue of the Journal of

International and European Law covers various of these areas and offers interesting insights in the devel-

oping course of the legal aspects of CSR.

In view of the global challenges, international (and European) law is particularly indispensable. It is the

backbone of the vision as stated by the Earth Charter quoted above that ‘we must recognize that ... we are one

Earth community with a common destiny.’ The Earth Charter is a modern declaration of fundamental ethi-

cal principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st Century. It includes in

short form all principal values covered by among other the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, interna-

tional human rights and environmental treaties.4 This document is the result of a decade-long, worldwide,

1 Earth Charter .

2 Tineke Lambooy, Corporate Social Responsibility. Legal and semi-legal frameworks supporting CSR (Kluwer 2010),

cess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/16169>.

3 Indonesian Corporate Law and Investment Law oblige CSR. See Tineke Lambooy and others, CSR in Indonesia: legislative develop-

ments and case studies (Konstitusi Press 2013).

4 Ruud Lubbers and Willem van Genugten and Tineke Lambooy, Inspiration for Global Governance (Kluwer 2008).

EDITORIAL

Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility

Tineke Lambooy*

*MolengraaInstituteforPrivateLawandtheResearchInstituteofWater,OceansandSustainabilityLaw,

UtrechtUniversity,theNetherlands

t.e.lambooy@uu.nl

UTRECHT JOURNAL OF

INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LAW

Keywords: CSR; Corporate Social Responsibility; Earth Charter; UN Guiding Principles; OECD

Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; National Contact Points; state liability for climate

change; corruption; private regulation