European Commission policy and actions on human rights and business

Berlin, February 20, 2013

A modern understanding of corporate social responsibility

 New definition: "The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society"  Positive and negative impacts  All enterprises have impacts, all have a social responsibility

Internationally recognised CSR guidelines and principles

The core five:  OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises  UN Global Compact  ISO 26000 Guidance standard on social responsibility  ILO Tri-partite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy  UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

What's different about the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights?

• Adverse impacts only • (New) terms and concepts: adverse impacts, due diligence, leverage, remedy, etc.

• Global and government endorsed • Enterprises and states • An expected standard of conduct for all

Sector-specific guidance

     Three sectors: employment and recruitment agencies, ICT/telecommunications, oil and gas Output: non-legally binding guidance that is practically useful to companies Geographical scope: take account of EU specificities, but make as globally relevant as possible Timeline: final guidance end April/early May 2013 Shift, and Institute for Human Rights and Business

SMEs and human rights

    Outputs: introductory guide, case studies, video English version published December 2012; other language versions soon Geographical scope: European small and medium-sized enterprises Global CSR and Bernard Brunhes International

National Action Plans and report on EU priorities

 EU report to be written from perspective of pillar one (state duty to protect) and pillar three (access to remedy)  Within pillars 1 and 3, need to consider all principles  The relevance of principle 10 for EU Member States: membership of multilateral institutions  Global leadership, expectation and responsibility

Some final comments

 Huge challenge for enterprises and states: we’re only at the start  Cooperation and dialogue critical