CSR and the government

The Dutch government also believes that CSR is important. In December 2000, the Sociaal Economische Raad (SER; the Social and Economic Council), an advisory body in which representatives of employees, employers and independent experts participate, issued an advisory report on this subject: ‘De winst van waarden’ (The profitability of values).

This advisory report is the keystone of the Dutch government’s CSR policy. The Dutch government does not want to make CSR obligatory by legislating it; rather, it prefers to stimulate and support CSR in many other ways. In November 2004, ‘CSR Netherlands’ was established at the government’s initiative. This institution aims to promote the transfer of knowledge and information on CSR and to stimulate dialogue on CSR among the various social actors.

The government also stimulates companies to publish CSR annual reports. And it expects companies applying for export credits to comply with the international rules of conduct for multinational corporations (OECD guidelines). These guidelines contains a variety of rules having to do with corruption, unfair competition, etc.