WRITTEN QUESTION E-0086/98 by Carlos Robles Piquer (PPE) to the Commission (30 January 1998)

Subject: Code of conduct for EU enterprises

In its reply to my written question E-1491/97 ((OJ C 45, 10.2.1998, p. 41. )) concerning the conduct of the NIKE company in factories manufacturing goods on its behalf outside the US, the Commission explained its reasons for opposing 'commercial sanctions, particularly on individual businesses' whose conduct may have violated certain ethical standards. I have since also seen a report on the 'NIKE Code of Conduct' by Mr Andrew Young, Co-Chairman of GoodWorks International, LLC, which gives the American Multinational a generally satisfactory appraisal.

In its reply, the Commission also refers to a communication which it has presented with the aim of promoting certain basic standards banning forced labour and child exploitation and fostering trade union freedom and the absence of sex discrimination.

Can the Commission say whether it considers that these standards are being met by Multinationals based in Europe or which are European-owned or managed, and whether it has put forward a proposal to the Member States similar to that known as 'Clinton's Apparel Industry Partnership' which has been accepted by NIKE and other large US firms active in the footwear and clothing sectors?

Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission (2 March 1998)

The question from the Honourable Member concerns the observance of basic labour standards by European undertakings. The standards to which the Honourable Member refers are incorporated in International Labour Organisation conventions, to which all Member States have acceded. Their implementation is, in the first place, a matter for national law, with its own institutions and instruments, of which the Commission cannot take the place.

The Commission continues to develop to the utmost its ability to orientate the debate and independent actions by European commercial operators towards the highest degree of compliance with internationally recognised social standards. In particular, the adoption of voluntary codes of conduct by multinationals is a positive development which the Commission encourages, yet without itself seeking to take the place of the independent judgement of economic operators.

Far from being purely theoretical, this approach has brought practical gains: three documents have been jointly adopted by representatives of the social partners in three important sectors of the Community economy (footwear, textiles and apparel, and large distributive enterprises) and the Commission is sending them direct to the Honourable Member and the Secretariat of Parliament.

These are the charter of the social partners in the footwear industry, drawn up in March 1995 and updated in December 1996; the code of conduct signed in Brussels on 10 July 1997 by the social partners in the textile and apparel industry; and the joint declaration by EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet on the campaign against child labour (8 March 1996).

Compared with the US initiative mentioned by the Honourable Member these European codes of conduct have the advantage of having been signed jointly by both sides of industry. More attention to their implementation can therefore be expected. An exchange of views on current experience is to be organised as part of the trans-Atlantic dialogue between the Community and the United States.