Corporate Social Responsibility Policies In France And Their Implications On China’s Lawmaking System

The French corporate social responsibility(CSR)policies have experienced a long history of development.The origin of CSR policies in France can date back to 1790s when CSR was considered to be business ethics and enterprises’ voluntary behaviors.After 1841,the French government began to actively guide enterprises to conduct responsible operations through policies and laws.After the World War Ⅱ,with the establishment of the United Nations and other international organizations,international soft law has played an important role in the French CSR process.On the one hand,the government actively promotes the international standard of CSR practices in France by referring to relevant international soft laws,on the other hand,France has incorporated some international CSR norms within its domestic CSR legislation framework.Referring to the standards of the European Commission and ISO 26000,France defines CSR as that enterprises are responsible for their environmental and social impacts.Responsible business conduct entails incorporation of social,environmental,ethical,consumer protection and human rights issues into business strategies and operations as well as all compliance with law.This means that CSR is not just a moral obligation in business but a legal obligation in France.French legal regulation of business activities has the following characteristics:first,the combination of hard law and soft law.The hard law is to make CSR a legally binding responsibility in some important areas,while soft law supplements the gap of hard law and also guides companies to assume a higher level of social responsibility.Second,French legislation on enterprises’ social impact is more comprehensive than that on enterprises’ environmental impact.The latter is still being perfected and is supported by relevant soft laws such as government initiatives and sector guidelines,etc.Third,multinational companies in France assume greater CSR than their overseas subsidiaries,suppliers and subcontractors.This is because in most cases,French law places higher requirements on CSR than host countries of multinational companies.For instance,many developing countries still lag behind in legislation on CSR.France has implemented three CSR-related laws since 2000:The 2001 New Economic Regulation Act required public companies to disclose their social impact and environmental protection related information.However,the definition of the information requested and related indicators were very vague and opaque and the Act did not specify any punitive measures,which weakened the Act to certain extent.The 2010 Law on National Commitment for the Environment has expanded the scope of application in terms of CSR information disclosure and any enterprises with an annual turnover of 100 million euros or above as well as 500 employees or more has become subject to CSR information disclosure.In addition,the Law has also introduced an independent third-party organization to review CSR reports,making the CSR-related information more readable and credible.The 2017 Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law has once again expanded the scope of CSR application.According to the Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law,multinational companies have an obligation to prevent the business activities of their parent companies,subsidiaries and suppliers from negatively affecting the environment and the society.The law stipulated that multinational companies shall formulate,publish and implement an alert plan.When the risks identified in the alert plan occur and cause losses,the company needs to bear responsibility and compensate for the losses.Thanks to this law,the complex structure of multinational enterprises can no longer serve as a tool for escape accountability.Moreover,the law helps to restrict the illegal activities of multinational companies.However,many elements of the law still need to be improved,such as the unclear definition of certain legal concepts,the narrow scope of application,extra-territorial application of the law,etc.The adoption of CSR practices in China began in the 1990s.Since then,China has successively promulgated various national policies,laws,regulations and industry norms on CSR.However,China has not yet established a legal framework for CSR and the existing laws cannot punish the irresponsible behaviors.Since the development of CSR activities in China is still at its early stage,the level of CSR management and information disclosure is quite low.As the implementation of the "go global" strategy and the "Belt and Road" Initiative as well as the"Made in China 2025”strategy has imposed more responsibilities on Chinese companies to operate in a socially and environmentally friendly way,the importance of building a sound legal system which helps promote the responsible operation of Chinese enterprises home and abroad is self-evident.To strengthen the CSR legislation in China does not mean to blindly copy experience of other countries.It is necessary to take into account China’s political,social,legal,economic and cultural background and to develop China’s own regulatory framework.On the one hand,soft law should play a more active role in promoting responsible business conduct in China.The state should mobilize multiple parties(such as enterprises,industrial associations,non-profit organizations,civil society,etc.)to participate in improving the soft law mechanism.Moreover,international soft law can serve as an effective tool to promote CSR best practices.On the other hand,it is important to adopt and implement relevant laws and regulations on CSR.To do so,legislators need to better define CSR in Chinese context on the basis of Article 5 of the Company Law.What’s more,the state should set up a legal mechanism for CSR information disclosure by constructing a framework and indicators of CSR information disclosure and by establishing an independent third-party audit system.