Legislating South African CSR Through Framework Legislation

Abstract

The notion of legislating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has for the most part not been well received. This is evident from the fact that legislation directly regulating CSR (either in the public or private spheres) is almost non-existent, with only a handful of jurisdictions referring to CSR in national legislation, and where references to CSR are made it is generally in the context of taxation. In line with the international trend, South Africa also does not have legislation expressly addressing CSR, although it does have a regulatory framework with CSR content (such as socio-economic development initiatives in terms of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003, (the BEE Act) and the social and ethics committee in terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008). However no explicit CSR legislation exist in the South African context. This contribution focuses on the following question: What could be included in a proposed CSR framework Act aimed at institutionalising CSR in the South African context? This contribution proposes a CSR framework Act for South Africa without creating an explicit right to CSR. The framework legislation proposed in this contribution should be regarded as being complementary to existing legislation addressing the rights addressed. With no comprehensive policy framework and no overarching legislation that addresses CSR in existence in South Africa, the country is in need of a framework law that addresses CSR and provides the necessary legal impetus for the establishment of a corporate conscience based on its social responsibility. It is evident, then, from noting the lack of an effective CSR enabling framework that the need exists to regulate aspects of CSR by means of a framework law. As a result, the aim of this contribution is to combine relevant national legislation and national and international guidelines into a framework Act that would institutionalise CSR.