27 April 2010 - CSR in Commerce Conference
Conference "Corporate Social Responsibility - Can commerce companies make the difference?"
EuroCommerce held its half-day conference on Corporate Social Responsibility in Brussels on 27 April 2010. Under the title "Corporate Social Responsibility – can commerce companies make the difference?" we discussed recent achievements and the challenges ahead for the commerce sector.
Commerce companies have a long tradition of initiating a broad range of responsible practices in co-operation with their stakeholders. How do retailers and wholesalers promote fair working conditions for all parties? What expectations do stakeholders have vis-à-vis the commerce sector? What new policy initiatives has the EU planned in the near future? We discussed these and other questions with policy makers and stakeholders.
The conference took place at the Renaissance Hotel, Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Programme
10.00 Registration and welcome coffee
10.30 Welcome address
Xavier R. Durieu, Secretary General, EuroCommerce
Welcome address - New
10.40 Keynote speech
Egbert Holthuis, Deputy Head of Unit, Employment Strategy, CSR and local development,
DG EMPL, European Commission
Keynote speech - New
11.00 Panel discussion
Moderator: Susan Bird, DG EMPL, European Commission
- Alke Bössiger, UNI Commerce Global Union
Statement - New
- G. Buitrago, Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International
- Britta Gallus, Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE) - Der Einzelhandel
Statement - New
- Mieke Vercaeren, Colruyt Group
12.30 Website presentation
Jürgen Noack, CSR Manager, EuroCommerce
12.45 Close of the conference
Xavier R. Durieu, Secretary General, EuroCommerce
13.00 Walking lunch
Click here to download the programme.
Photo Gallery
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New website "CSR in Commerce"
On 27 April 2010, EuroCommerce also launched its new website "CSR in Commerce". With this website we want to make a significant contribution to the promotion of CSR in Europe, the dissemination of good practices and the strengthening of the dialogue between all parties involved.
In addition to sections about CSR in general, EuroCommerce's CSR approach and CSR at EU level, the website contains three databases with multiple search functions: CSR good practice cases, a stakeholder forum and a comprehensive document library.
With this website we aim to accomplish the following goals:
Highlight progressively the significant contribution of the commerce sector in the field of CSR.
Make CSR in the commerce sector more visible and transparent as good practices become easily accessible for companies, stakeholders and the wider public.
Facilitate an exchange of experiences between those commerce companies that already practice CSR and those that wish to take action in CSR.
Give stakeholders a platform to express their views on CSR and promote the dialogue between commerce companies, stakeholders and the wider public.
Provide a large selection of CSR related documents.
The website is online at: www.csr-in-commerce.eu.
This project has been carried out with the financial support of the European Commission.