CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITY

The EU Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy 2011 defines CSR as the responsibility of companies for their impact on society. CSR is not regulated in corporate law as the duty and responsibility of directors. However, there are a number of recommendations and resolutions in different international and EU political and legal acts in support of CSR and responsible business conduct. CSR is the responsibility of companies to include in their operations the respect for human rights and care for the environment, respect for good business practices, ethical work and employment practices, compliance with environmental protection issues, and the fight against bribery and corruption. Such business benefits companies and society and leads to general well-being. CSR is nowadays not a legal institute; it is rather a business culture and business behaviour that goes beyond meeting legal requirements. Its realization is voluntary when/if companies’ asses that it is in their long-term interest and that sustainable business success and shareholder value cannot be achieved by maximizing short-term profits alone. The research will pursue the following research objectives: 1. The aim of the study is to identify, through legal analysis, the causes of the gap between political resolutions and declarations at global, European and national levels and the effective implementation of CSR in modern global society and the related effectiveness and relevance of the legal framework relating to CSR and corporate governance in general. The narrower goal of this research is to substantiate and make some suggestions for supplementing the legal framework for better implementation of CSR. 2. In the proposed study, we will test the hypothesis that an important reason for the poor implementation of CSR is that it is not sufficiently legally binding. The research aims to justify that the reason for the poor implementation of the CSR concept in the daily and strategic business behaviour of companies is the fact that the implementation of CSR and the responsibility of directors in this regard is not legally regulated and mandatory for companies. 3. The study will examine the reasons and directions for possible development of EU and national corporate law by redefining the duties and responsibilities of directors, including the duty of directors to include human rights issues and social, environmental, ethical and consumer concerns in their strategies and operations. In this way, CSR would become legally binding and legally enforceable. The research will focus on CSR related to the duties and responsibilities of directors, conflicts of interest of directors with corporate and social interests, diversity in the composition of company management boards, including under gender representation, as CSR factors. 4. Empirical case studies of CSR strategies and acts and the performance and outcomes of several multinational companies selected by different industries and sectors (public and private) will be conducted and analysed to assess and evaluate progress and results achieved and the scope of the voluntary CSR concept and formulate proposals to gradually bridge the gap between legal acts, political declarations, recommendations, and reality. 5. A comparative case study of national legal systems will be carried out; on this basis, an evaluation of the legal framework for CSR governance will be carried out, focusing on corporate and labour (social) law of selected EU and non-EU countries. 6. Both studies will serve as the research basis for the development of a methodology for defining and evaluating the legal order of the CSR (legal) framework in each country. It will be an original and innovative methodology and a set of indicators for defining, assessing, and evaluating the legal framework of countries related to CSR, with a focus on specific selected legislative areas.