An article by Yoo Soh-jung that appeared in
The Korea Herald states that a majority of the Korea’s top 100 companies by revenue fall short of being equipped with measures needed to meet international standards of corporate social responsibility, according to a report released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The report on new trade barriers concerning the International Organization Standardization (ISO) 26000 states that companies that fail to meet the international standards of social responsibility have the risk of facing a bottleneck in their export line. The ISO 26000, the international standard for measuring a company’s CSR performance will likely be released by the end of this year is expected to cover the areas of management structure, human rights, labour practices, environment and fair trade.
Please see an
earlier post on csv.org on ISO 26000.
The report highlighted that only 4.9 percent of the top 100 Korean companies are equipped with the tools necessary to meet the ISO standards. Another 36.1 percent said they are "somewhat" equipped, while another 36.1 percent said they have no tools and are instead following the industry trend by monitoring the moves of their competitors. Another 21.3 percent said they are "practically unequipped," while 1.6 percent expressed "no interest."
"Although the ISO 26000 would be like a guideline, it can eventually pose as a trade barrier for our companies," the KCCI said in a statement.
"The international standards will not only be applicable to companies, but also the government, civic groups, labour groups and research institutions; therefore, discussions over the roles and responsibilities are necessary between the relevant bodies or personnel," it highlighted.
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