EESC opinion: European Social Mark

Key points

• The European Parliament's Committee for Employment and Social Affairs proposed a pilot project on a European social mark in 2013, but this pilot project was not included in the European Parliament's Budget Committee text for 2013. Given this new situation, the EESC opinion focuses primarily on giving input on the proposed pilot project;
• In the EESC's view, efforts to strengthen the social dimension and social values in Europe are very important, but finds that it is necessary, as a first step, to further clarify the added value, timing and focus of this proposal in relation to its policy goals;
• The EESC agrees that corporate social responsibility (CSR) should be recognised and encouraged, but stresses that CSR must never be used as a substitute for social rights guaranteed in legal or international instruments, in which social dialogue has a central role;
• The EESC points out that, although the initiative is important, the proposal might be too complicated at a time when the EU is undergoing a crisis. It would be undesirable to introduce additional commitments for businesses that risk creating wider gulfs rather than increasing cohesion between different sized businesses and EU countries;
• Account also needs to be taken of parallel initiatives such as social labelling in the field of social entrepreneurship (as referred to in the Social Business Initiative) to avoid confusion, including in terminology (the term “Social Enterprise Mark” already exists); • Before considering the introduction of a new European social mark, the EESC therefore recommends exhaustively mapping existing labelling systems in the different Member States, identifying best practice and learning from non-successful ones, as well as improving and expanding existing labelling systems to cover social responsibility;
• Awareness should be raised of the systems that already exist and of the businesses that use them. A European communication action on the European labels should be considered in the medium term, to build awareness among consumers and citizens;
• In any case, in order to avoid distortions, a European social labelling should not deviate from internationally recognised normalisations, but it should certainly insist on the respect for social rights.