CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN GENERAL
1. CSR values and practices, including levels of support from government, business and the general public
The adoption by Spanish companies of economic, corporate, social and environmental commitments not based on statutes but on voluntary corporate policies, ie CSR as narrowly construed, has made outstanding progress in recent years. Many listed corporations have made remarkable improvements in this field since 2001 – specifically in the difficult areas of adopting CSR policies, controls and reporting habits. CSR culture is not yet fully standardised, though, and has a rather limited impact on genuinely domestic businesses. Nevertheless, CSR is evolving: each year, more Spanish companies are ranked in commonly accepted international CSR indexes and it is less unusual to see references to CSR in annual reports.
On the occasion of its 2004 annual report, the Fundación Empresa y Sociedad carried out a survey of 127 large companies in Spain with a combined turnover of €234.8 billion, with the following results: (i) 9.4 per cent were in a development phase of CSR (ie they consider CSR as a factor requiring attention and have implemented serious CSR management systems and controls); (ii) 51.2 per cent of the enterprises were in an initial phase (ie implementing some CSR initiatives but still lacking a general understanding and application); and (iii) 39.4 per cent of the companies were only in a preliminary phase (ie social policies still based mainly on charity and philanthropic considerations).
Concern for CSR by Spanish investors and consumers is not yet particularly noteworthy, but continuous press coverage over the last four years has put the issue firmly on the agenda of corporate and security markets and reflected the opinions voiced in international fora. CSR’s real champions, though, are the foundations, associations and NGOs through which most of the companies are approaching the CSR reality.
In contrast, that aspect of CSR known as corporate governance has been considerably enhanced among listed companies. In fact, it has been the subject matter of the Olivencia conduct-of-business Code and Report (1998) and of the Aldama Report (2003) prepared by expert commissions established by the Ministry of Justice. These reports are regarded as the definitive point of reference. Business habits are adapting to the new culture, and there is still a long way to go to a fully transparent and well-balanced corporate management system. But legal developments on corporate governance, such as the reform of the financial system and the so-called ‘transparency law’, have accelerated this process by converting some voluntary rules into mandatory provisions, as is discussed in section 8 below.
Beyond CSR in the strict sense of the term, the Spanish central and autonomous regions’ parliaments and governments have enacted an enormous amount of regulation dealing with the protection of consumers, investors, communities, employees and the environment and the fight against corruption, based on mandates set out in the 1978 Constitution. Specifically, Chapter III of Title I of the Spanish Constitution contains the principles on which CSR is built and drives legislative and judicial practice. The constitutional charter of rights and public liberties is connected to the UN conventions on human, civil and political rights but also refers, as mandatory instruments for interpretation, to any treaty ratified by Spain in this area.
2. Laws, statutes, government publications or other significant framework documents
There is no framework regulation on CSR in Spain. The government is reported to be working on a draft of a future framework law, although there is as yet no official confirmation. For the time being, international and EU initiatives (specifically, the 2001 green paper for promoting a European framework for CSR and related communications and resolutions) have led the Spanish authorities to deal with this on a ‘business case’ approach (ie self-regulation).
Employment and environmental matters have been intensely regulated since the advent of democracy in late 1970s and access to the EU. Examples of the type of measures that have been strengthened are the labour regulations on employment of disabled individuals (which provide for subsidies to companies offering employment to disabled individuals); on unemployed disadvantaged groups; on the right to information and election of employee representatives; on the reconciliation of labour and family life. As for the environment, attention may be drawn to the regulations on the trade of greenhouse effect fumes emission rights, on integrated pollution prevention and control, and on the right to environmental information.
The business case initiatives include the Code of the Corporate Governance in Sustainable Undertakings (drafted in March 2002 by the IESE Business School of the University of Navarra, the Fundación Entorno, a business forum for sustainable development, and PricewaterhouseCoopers) and the System for an Ethic Business Management by Forética, the ethical business forum. Aenor, the national standards institute, is working on a draft set of norms on ethic and social business management (PNE 165010) and has already approved a rule on ethical financial instruments (UNE 165001).
The recommendations of the Olivencia and Aldama reports on corporate governance and transparency in listed companies have been substantially enacted as mandatory regulations to reform the financial system (Law 44/2002 of 22 November 2002), and amendments to securities market and public companies legislation that increase transparency (Law 26/2003 of 17 July 2003). Spanish requirements in this field are thus in line with the most recent French, British and US regulations.
3. International treaties, conventions or standards
Spain is a member of the UN and has been a non-permanent member of its Security Council for 2003-04. Further to a large list of UN conventions and international instruments, Spain has ratified the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro). Spain is also a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and has ratified a large number of ILO Conventions. Last year the Global Compact Square Table took place in Madrid, hosted by the Secretary of the Instituto de Empresa. Furthermore, there are 206 Spanish companies that have committed to the UN Global Compact, and Spain has also undertaken the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises published by the OECD.
4. Non-statutory sources of liability for companies
In general, any damage caused wilfully or negligently to a third party by a corporation must be compensated, but there are various legal grounds on which compensation may be granted: the general law-of-tort rules of the Civil Code (Articles 1901 et seq.), or, in the case of misrepresentation, Law 3/1991 of 10 January 1991 on unfair competition, and Law 34/1988 of 11 November 1988 on advertising. These laws provide that the injured party may request as part of the damages the publication of the relevant ruling, among other things.
5. Principal institutions, government agencies and/or major non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
The Board of the Social Economy, Self-Employed Work and the European Social Fund (Dirección General de Economía Social, Trabajo Autónomo y Fondo Social Europeo) is the central government bureau responsible for the promotion of CSR in Spanish businesses and civil society, without prejudice to the competence of other regulators and bodies.
There are a significant number of NGOs promoting CSR – a number more than adequate to its current status, in fact. The following may be highlighted: Fundación Empresa y Sociedad (Spanish correspondent of CSR Europe); Observatorio de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa; Economistas sin Fronteras; Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo (Spanish partner of SIRI Group); Instituto Universitario de Cooperación y Desarrollo of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Forética; Fundación Entorno; Fundación Lealtad; Instituto Persona; Empresa y Sociedad (IPES) of the ESADE business school; Proyecto Ethos.
SPECIFIC AREAS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
6. Human rights
The 1978 Constitution contains a highly advanced charter of human, civil and political rights in line with 1970s constitutionalism. It sets out a comprehensive list of rights that can be divided into (i) fundamental rights and public liberties (including traditional human, civil and political rights such as the rights to life and physical integrity, equality, freedom of movement, beliefs and communication, security, honour, privacy, association, the vote, etc); (ii) citizens’ rights (including secondary civil and political rights such as marriage, property, work, free economy, etc); and (iii) guiding principles of social and economic policy (including third-generation rights such as protection of family, health, consumers and environment, equitable distribution of wealth, social security, culture, proper dwelling, etc). The rights and liberties comprised in (i) and (ii) may only be regulated by law, which in the case of (i) requires a qualified majority. Legal regulation must not undermine the essential content of these rights. Furthermore, the protection of rights under category (i) is guaranteed through a specific and speedy judicial procedure. Rights under (iii) may be invoked as set out in developing regulations, but authorities and courts are directly bound to act on, and be guided by, them. A considerable number of Basic Laws and ordinary laws have developed these rights: consequently it is fair to say that the Spanish legal system of human, civil and political rights is one of the most sophisticated. Both the Constitution and the developing regulations are self-executing and create duties and obligations upon companies and businesses, with the aforementioned exceptions.
Spain is party to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Civil Rights, the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (which includes the ability to appeal national resolutions before the European Court of Strasbourg), the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the 1966 International Covenant on civil and political rights, together with other international instruments and declarations. The main NGOs active on human, civil and political rights are: SETEM, Amnesty International, Oxfam International, Minority Rights International, Survival International and Anti-Slavery International.
7. Corruption
In 2000, Spain ratified the OECD Convention on Combating the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Paris, 1997) designed to criminalise in each parties’ penal codes the act of directly or indirectly offering, promising, giving, or demanding bribes or similar undue advantages to obtain or retain business to overseas public officials. As a result, a new Section XIX of Book II was added to the 1995 Penal Code. The new offence is applicable even if the bribery of a foreign public official is committed outside Spain by Spanish nationals.
Under Law 12/2003 of 21 May 2003, dealing with the prevention and blocking of terrorist financing, financial entities and other professionals are obliged to establish procedures and bodies of internal control and communication to prevent financial operations related to individuals (or entities) linked to terrorist organisations. Similarly, Law 19/1993 of 28 December 2003 imposes equivalent obligations in respect of money launderers on financial entities. The performance of these duties is supervised respectively by the Investigation Commission on the Financing of Terrorism (Comisión de Vigilancia de Actividades de Financiación del Terrorismo) and the Executive Service of the Commission to Prevent Money Laundering and Monetary Offences (Servicio Ejecutivo de la Comisión de Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales e Infracciones Monetarias). Transparency International is one of the NGOs most involved in fighting corruption.
8. Corporate governance and business ethics
The Transparency Law (Law 26/2003 of 17 July 2003) amended the Securities Market Law (Ley del Mercado de Valores) and the Public Companies Law (Texto Refundido de la Ley de Sociedades Anónimas) to improve transparency in listed public companies. The Transparency Law adopts many of the corporate governance recommendations in the Aldama Report. It creates mandatory duties upon listed companies (and mutatis mutandis on savings banks) in three main areas: (i) disclosure of shareholders’ agreements and compliance with corporate governance practices; (ii) detailed definition of the duties of company directors; and (iii) procedural regulations for the general shareholders’ meeting and the board of directors.
The content, execution, extension or amendment of shareholders’ agreements must be communicated to the company and to the Spanish National Securities Exchange Commission (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores), which is required to announce it as a relevant event (hecho relevante) and deposit it with the Commercial Registry. While shareholders’ agreements (including agreements of the shareholders of a non-listed company controlling a listed company) are not communicated to and deposited with the competent authorities, they are ineffective and serious administrative penalties may be incurred.
The Transparency Law also sets forth the duty to disclose to the securities market as a relevant event an annual report on the compliance with corporate governance (detailing ownership structure, composition, functioning, remuneration, etc of directors, risk controls, running of general shareholders’ meetings, level of compliance with corporate governance recommendations, etc). Limitations for public request of proxies to vote at the general shareholders’ meeting by directors are also set out. Modern communication technologies are considered by the Transparency Law: on the one hand, it imposes upon listed companies the duty to have a web page through which shareholders may exercise their information rights; on the other, the exercise of the voting rights and its delegation to the general shareholders’ meetings may be performed by e-mail or any other long-distance communication system that ensures proper identification. The duties of care, loyalty and secrecy of directors are further detailed, including the obligation on directors to be kept informed of the progress of the company’s business, to communicate any potential conflict of interest, and not to exploit corporate opportunities for their own direct or indirect benefit, etc. The Law on Corporate Income Tax (Law 43/1995 of 27 December 1995) has also been amended to request more detail on certain taxpayers’ tax returns.
The Transparency Law also took into consideration an important part of the provisions of the Olivencia Code of Corporate Governance (1998), while Law 44/2002 of 22 November 2002 introduced reforms to the financial system in response to the Enron case. This law set out quoted companies’ obligation to create an audit committee; introduced more effective guarantees of the independence of audit firms; and put in place a demanding regime for disclosure of material information to the markets. The Spanish National Securities Exchange Commission is responsible for monitoring corporate governance and, for that purpose, it may request and publish any information from listed companies.
Spain has adhered to the OECD principles on corporate governance, and, as a member of the EU, is following up EC initiatives on CSR. Significant among these are two Commission recommendations of 7 October 2004 that develop the EC Action Plan on company law and corporate governance entitled Modernising Company Law and Enhancing Corporate Governance in the EU (21 May 2003). The Commission recommendation on the role of non-executive or supervisory directors and on the committees of the (supervisory) board invites member states not to stop at implementing transparency requirements but to move ahead by adopting ‘comply or explain’, or mandatory, legislation, to promote the role of non-executive directors, ensuring their independence and efficiency in organising the committees of the board. The Commission recommendation on the remuneration of directors of listed companies suggests that the same approach be taken towards a transparent remuneration system for directors, based on a remuneration policy disclosed to and approved by the shareholders. A significant number of these recommendations were already taken on board by the Olivencia Code and the Aldama Report.
Among the latest publications on CSR, and corporate governance in particular, we may quote the following: the annual report of the Fundación Empresa y Sociedad (Observatorio de la Acción Social de la Empresa en España); a survey entitled Communication with Minority Shareholders and CSR: New Trends in Financial Communication (La comunicación con el pequeño accionista y la responsabilidad social corporativa: Nuevas tendencias en la comunicación financiera) published jointly by IESE, APIE and Inforpress; the annual report of the IPES (Observatorio de los fondos de inversión éticos, ecológicos y solidarios en España); and compilations of press articles entitled CSR 2001-2004 (Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, 2001-2004), published by the Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo. In addition, the Economic Gazette of Spanish Commercial Information (Información Comercial Española) usually includes regular information on CSR.
9. Corporate responsibility to employees
Since the enactment in 1980 of the Statute of Workers (now consolidated in Royal Legislative Decree 1/1995, of 24 March 1995) there have been significant breakthroughs as regards employers’ responsibility towards employees, not only in terms of salary. Article 17 of the Statute of Workers prohibits any type of positive or negative discrimination with regard to access to employment or working conditions. Furthermore, Royal Decree 1451/1983 of 11 May 1983 is intended to foster the employment of the disabled by providing Social Security subsidies to companies that offer employment to disabled individuals. According to Law 56/2003 of 16 December 2003 on employment, unemployed disadvantaged groups, and handicapped individuals in particular, are to be afforded personalised attention by the public employment services. Moreover, the employer must adopt the necessary measures to adapt the workplace and access to the workplace to the needs of each specific case.
Since 1947, employee representatives have been elected by employees, and since 1977 (by virtue of Law 19/1977 of 1 April 1977) Works Councils have been elected in a purely democratic way. Ever since then, legislation on employee representatives has evolved, in particular by affording them more transparent access to business information (eg Law 2/1991 of January 1991 on employee representatives’ rights to information about employment contracts, and Royal Decree 1844/1994, of 9 September 1994, setting out rules for the election of Works Councils and employee delegates).
The reconciliation of employment and family life is promoted by Law 39/1999, of 5 November 1999, which provides that, following the birth or adoption of a child, employees are entitled to paid leave of 16 weeks. Parents who are employed are entitled to an unpaid leave of absence for up to three years. After the first year, the employee has the right to occupy a position in the same professional group or equivalent category, but not the same position. Employees are entitled to unpaid leave of absence of up to one year in order to care for a relative who is not self-sufficient or able to work. According to the main legal instruments regulating health and safety in the workplace, employers are obliged to carry out preventive measures aimed at protecting employees from workplace risks (risk evaluation, prevention and emergency plan, prevention resources, and establishment of certain related committees, etc).
Most of the improvements above arise from EU directives (such as those related to collective redundancies, transfers of undertakings, equal pay and equal treatment). In addition, there is the effect of a large number of ILO Conventions. Within central government, employment law matters are the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales). The current Minister is Jesus Caldera. There are also many representative bodies such as the National Institute of Employment; the Spanish Health Institute; the National Institute of Social Security (INSS); the Office of Labour Inspection (Inspección de Trabajo); and the Social Services Institute. In the Autonomous Regions, both the local and central governments have their own authorities in this area. NGOs to be considered are Instituto Sindical de Cooperación al Desarrollo; Asociación Catalana de Integración y Desarrollo Humano; Fundación Secretariado General Gitano; Fundación Diagrama; and Asociación Católica Internacional de Servicios a la Juventud Femenina.
10.Corporate responsibility towards the environment
According to Article 45 of the Spanish Constitution everybody has the right to enjoy an environment adequate for human development, as well as the duty to preserve it. At the central government level, notable regulations include Legislative Royal Decree 5/2004 of 27 August 2004, which establishes a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading and thereby implements Directive 2003/87 of 13 October 2003, which results from the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In accordance with the Legislative Royal Decree 5/2004, greenhouse gas emissions resulting from certain activities are subject to authorisation by the Autonomous Regions. This system is developed by Royal Decree 1899/2004 of 6 September 2004, which sets forth the total greenhouse gas emission allowance trading in Spain for the period 2005-07. Legislative Royal Decree 1302/1986 establishes that certain public or private projects are subject to a prior environmental impact assessment. Law 38/1995, on the right to access to environmental information, implements Directive 90/313 of 7 June 1990 on freedom of access to information on the environment. Law 21/1992 on industry, which aims to regulate the industrial sector, contributes to making industrial activities compatible with the environmental protection.
At Regional level the most relevant rules are as follows. In Catalonia, Law 3/1998 of 27 February 1998, on the integrated control of the environment, implemented Directive 96/61 of 24 September 1996. In Castilla y León, Law 11/2003 of 8 April 2003 on environmental prevention, covers the authorisation required for certain activities. Local authorities also have powers for protection of the environment, water supply, waste management, wastewater management and consumer protection under Article 25 of Law 7/1985.
Spanish civil legislation does not directly deal with the environment, with very few exceptions (eg Catalonian Law 13/1990 of 9 July 1990 on defence to claims for right of way, occupation and neighbourhood relations). However, some Articles of the Spanish Civil Code may apply to environmental related cases. Civil liability is mainly based upon negligence. Nevertheless, Spanish case law has developed an increasingly stringent appraisal of negligence relating to environmental protection, in which a concept close to strict liability is accepted. Moreover, the Supreme Court has determined that there is no need for the act or omission to be illegal for the existence of civil liability in cases of environmental damage. The Spanish Criminal Code contains also several articles concerning the environment.
Environmental accounting plays an important role in Spain. Indeed, in recent years, several regulations have been enacted setting out certain information duties to companies, ie Royal Decree 437/1998, of 20 March 1998 and the Ministerial Orders of 10 December 1998, and 8 November 2001. Moreover, the resolution of the Accounting and Audit Accounts Institute (Instituto de Contabilidad y Auditoría de Cuentas) of 25 March 2002 obliges companies to include in the notes to the annual accounts the following information:
(i) a description of the characteristics of the most significant equipment acquired in order to minimise environmental impact; (ii) charges incurred to protect and improve the environment; (iii) liabilities and charges included in the corresponding provisions as a result of environmental interventions (ie legal disputes in progress); and (iv) eventualities related to the protection and improvement of environment, including the affect on its assets and liabilities and profit or loss.
The broad range of UN and other international environmental treaties, conventions and protocols which Spain has ratified includes the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Spain has also ratified the 1973 International Convention on maritime pollution (as amended by 1978 Protocol) and has signed but not ratified the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage. The adoption of the International Standards Organisation’s ISO 14001 management system, and the national Aenor rules, help organisations to meet environmental challenges by checking that products, materials, services, systems or people measure up to the specifications of a relevant standard.
Important Spanish NGOs and public authorities participated in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002, including the Council of Spanish Youth (Consejo de la Juventud de España), the Catalonian NGOs Federation (Federación Catalana de ONGs), Foundation of Ecology and Development (Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo), Intermón Oxfam and Medicos Mundi. The General Bureau on Quality and Environmental Assessment (Dirección General de Calidad y Evaluación Ambiental) of the Ministry of Environment is fostering and developing systems of environmental management and environmental audits; the minister responsible is Cristina Narbona. A great number of NGOs promote and support environmental protection in Spain, such as Friends of the Earth (Amigos de la Tierra), Greenpeace or WWF-Adena. The 2003 report on CSR in Spain by the Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo includes relevant information.
11.Corporate responsibility to communities
It is common practice that industries involved in pollution or hazardous activities come to some agreement with neighbouring communities for promoting development and employment. The Spanish legal system contemplates civil, administrative and criminal aggravated sanctions for those who discriminate, upset or cause damage to individuals solely because they are part of a social group (women, homosexuals, foreigners, etc).
Nevertheless, CSR towards communities is more developed among non-profit organisations such as Spanish saving banks, foundations and associations. Donations to non-profit organisations officially registered as such are tax deductible. Spanish saving banks are non-profit banking institutions that invest their profits in an enormous range of social activities, from scholarships and finance facilities to business projects and investments in social, health and/or cultural initiatives or donations to NGOs. Furthermore, Spain has a considerable number of co-operatives (2,126 in 2003) and employee-owned companies (5,353 in 2003). Co-operatives are incorporated to satisfy the common needs of members and to promote their civic, professional and cultural education. In employee-owned companies, the majority of share capital is held by employees. Both types of companies benefit from tax benefits, public assistance and subsidies.
12.Corporate responsibility for overseas activities
There are no laws or regulations providing for the responsibility of parent companies in respect of their subsidiaries, whether these are domestic or overseas entities. In 1997, the General Codification Commission presented a proposal for a General Corporate Code, under which subsidiary liability was established for parent companies in certain cases where the subsidiaries used the name of the group to undertake debts vis-à-vis third parties. In purely internal cases, the case law seems to be flexible in piercing the corporate veil of those wholly-owned subsidiaries causing damage or failing to meet credit obligations to third parties. However, recent court decisions are more rigid, and seem to consider only those cases where there was an effective direction by the parent company in connection with the damage/debt (see Resolutions of the Supreme Court of 31 October 2001 and 15 March 2002). Administrative, tax and criminal liability regulations – unlike the law of torts
– consider the responsibility of parent companies in certain cases.
As regards overseas liability, any responsibility attributed to the Spanish parent company should be either directly attributable to the parent company (eg mismanagement as member of the board of directors of the subsidiary, advertising broadcast in the subsidiary’s country, intermediation in the relevant transaction, license of trademarks or trade names to the subsidiary, etc) or based on the doctrine of the piercing of the corporate veil. In both cases, due to the Spanish rules on conflict of laws, such claims should be, and in practice are, based on local laws. In general, the rule of forum non conveniens is not applicable in Spain, based on the need for legal certainty.
13. Procurement
The legal regime on public procurement is consistent with EU Directives and is set forth by Legislative Royal Decree 2/2000 of 6 June 2000, which consolidates the regulations on contracts of public administration. In September 2003 the Ministry of the Treasury and the Economy convened an expert commission to review and to make proposals in connection with governmental procurement in Spain. On 16 April 2004 the commission presented its Report and Conclusions for the Analysis of Governmental Procurement (Informe y Conclusiones de la Comisión de Expertos para el Estudio y Diagnóstico de la Situación de la Contratación Pública).
The central and regional governments are assisted by an Advisory Board of Government Contracts (Junta Consultiva de Contratación Administrativa), which in the case of central government has been delivering reports and recommendations in this field since 1995.
In the private sector, there are no standard rules. However, most companies which have incorporated or are in the process of incorporating CSR values are already considering this area seriously. This is the case, for instance, for Santander, BBVA or Inditex. Each of those companies have specific sections in their annual CSR report providing details of their practices with their providers (requesting adhesion to the Global Compact, conformity with human and employment rights, acceptance of codes of good practice, integration of handicapped people, ISO compliance, good environmental practices, inspection procedures, etc).
14.CSR reporting and socially responsible investing
At present there is no legal duty to report on CSR compliance, except for listed companies’ obligations to disclose corporate governance practices in their annual report and website, as mentioned in section 8. However, the central government is reportedly working on a framework law on CSR, which will probably extend reporting duties for CSR in general. A significant number of companies, most of them listed in Ibex 35, voluntarily issue annual CSR reports and/or include CSR sections in their annual report and websites (eg, Abertis, Adecco, BBVA, Caja Madrid, Cortefiel, Endesa, Ferrovial, Gas Natural, Iberdrola, Iberia, Inditex, Indra, La Caixa, OHL, Sacyr Vallehermoso, Repsol, Santander, Telefónica, Unión Fenosa, etc). A significant part of CSR reporting companies follow the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Inditex, BBVA, Grupo Santander, Endesa, Ferrovial and Iberdrola are listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
As mentioned in section 10, companies need to disclose in their annual accounts certain specific information regarding investment in, and compliance with, environmental good practice. In this area, the proposals and activity of the CSR Commission of the Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association (Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas or AECA) should be borne in mind.
Social investment figures in Spain are slowly improving but they are still far from ideal. In 2003, 24 socially responsible collective investment schemes had invested €114,36 million. On the other hand, the Spanish saving banks play an important role in this area. In fact, the consolidated assets of these non-profit institutions in December 2003 were almost €6 trillion and their consolidated net income in March 2004 was €1 billion.
SOURCES
José Miguel Rodríguez Fernández, ‘El gobierno de la empresa: un enfoque alternativo’ (Madrid,
2003).
IESE, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Fundación Entorno, ‘Código de Buen Gobierno en
Empresas Sostenibles’ (Madrid, 2002).
Comisión Especial para el Estudio de un Código Ético de los Consejos de Administración
de las Sociedades, ‘El Gobierno de las Sociedades Cotizadas’ (Olivencia’s Code of Corporate
Governance) (Madrid, 1998).
Comisión Especial para el Fomento de la Transparencia y la Seguridad en los Mercados
Financieros y las Sociedades Cotizadas, ‘Informe de la Comisión Especial para el Fomento de la
Transparencia y Seguridad en los Mercados y en las Sociedades Cotizadas’ (Aldama Report)
(Madrid, 2003).
Fundación Empresa y Sociedad, ‘Observatorio de la Acción Social de la Empresa en España’
(Madrid-Barcelona, 2004).
Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo, ‘Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, 2001-2004’ (Madrid,
2004).
