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30 Utrecht J. Int'l & Eur. L. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/merko30 and id is 1 raw text is: UTRECHTJOURNALOF Tineke Lamnbooy, 'Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility' (2014) INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LAW 30(78) Utrecht Journal of International and European Law 1, DOI: http:// dx.doi.org/10.5334/ujieI.bz EDITORIAL Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility Tineke Lambooy* Molengraaff Institute for Private Law and the Research Institute of Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands t.e.lambooy@uu.nI 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 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 ofa magnificent diversity ofcultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. Preamble of the Earth Charter' 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.' 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, I Earth Charter <http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html>. 2 Tineke Lambooy, Corporate Social Responsibility. Legal and semi-legalframeworks supporting CSR (Kluwer 2010), <https://openac- cess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/16169>. 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). Ruud Lubbers and Willem van Genugten and Tineke Lambooy, Inspiration for Global Governance (Kluwer 2008).

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