인도의 기업의 사회적 책임 (CSR) 법제화와 시사점

In 2013, India became the first country in the world to mandate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending as the new Companies Act of 2013 requires companies of a certain size to invest two-percent of net profits in social welfare activities. While philanthropic CSR efforts have been viewed as discretionary and voluntary engagements undertaken by corporations around the world, a new CSR model is emerging in India. This Article analyzes the emerging CSR regime in India and highlights key characteristics of the developing frameworks. It begins an overview of the new Companies Act of 2013, and corporate governance reform to understand backgrounds of CSR regime in India. It, then, reviews CSR requirements under section 135 of the Act. This Article raises questions about why India is moving towards mandatory philanthropic CSR and whether this regime could be a leading model to other countries. By reviewing lessons from Indian example of CSR implementation, it seeks to add to Korean legal debates over CSR regime. Finally, this Article suggests a legislative blueprint for establishing a foundation to effectively implement CSR in corporate jurisprudence Unlike India, Korea does not have explicit CSR legislation in the corporate law context. But while there is no law directly mandating CSR in Korea, numerous regulations governing corporate activities already fulfill the function of implementing CSR. Such individual regulatory statutes, which require or encourage certain “results,” “actions/processes,” and “structures” of corporate activities for protecting various stakeholders in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions, would be an effective mechanism for implementing CSR. In this respect, the Indian 2013 Companies Act, which mandates two-percent company spending on CSR, is likely to suffer from a severely delimited consideration of CSR, i.e., as a philanthropic responsibility, if India fails to arrange a systematic legislative framework for improving CSR practice to protect society from corporate abuses. Becoming the first country to incorporate mandatory philanthropic CSR could burnish the image of India as a leader in improving CSR; but it could also isolate the country from the international consensus. Perhaps a more desirable route to becoming such a leader would involve establishing a systemic and effective legal framework considering sphere of influence in CSR with economic, environmental, and social dimensions, in line with a CSR-centric perspective, i.e., economic, legal, and ethical responsibilities before moving on mandating philanthropic CSR by a single regulation.