European Parliament to adopt final position on CSR Communication

Following the vote on 24 April in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (see also EurActiv, April 2003), the Parliament’s own-initiative report on the Commission’s Communication on CSR will be discussed on 13 May 2003.
In its proposed position on the above Communication, the Parliament welcomes the establishment of the EU Multi-Stakeholder Forum on CSR as an autonomous group run by its members, which aims to recognise the diversity of CSR approaches when considering how to facilitate convergence. As regards practical proposals, the Parliament recommends that:

* the Forum should specifically address the needs and nature of SMEs to be considered horizontally across the work of each of the Round Tables;
* the Round Table meetings, and especially the November 2003 Forum meeting, should be available live via webcast in the interest of transparency and that the minutes of each Round Table should be posted on the web as soon as signed off by the individual rapporteurs;
* the papers presented to Round Table meetings by the Commission be sent simultaneously to the Parliament;
* the environmental, development, enterprise and social aspects of CSR be treated with equal emphasis.