Certification of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Czech Republic

Corporate social responsibility is in the focus of many companies in recent years. It becomes a way of sustainability for many companies on the market. It expresses a voluntary commitment of companies to behave responsibly to their surroundings within three pillars: economic, social and environmental one. The issue of social responsibility is developing in many European countries and European Commission is aiming at support for national CSR strategies. There are countries with highly developed CSR, on the other hand there are countries, such as the Czech Republic, where a public policy is being reformed, including discussions about CSR. This paper supports the idea that states should encourage social responsibility, as it allows businesses to become sustainable which leads to the stability of the economy. CSR activities can be focused on philanthropy, the care of the employees, the environment and transparency of economic activities. The process of CSR certification is important in the development of CSR in the Czech Republic. It allows companies to demonstrate their activities and visible achievements in this field. This paper describes the most popular types of certifications that are used in the Czech Republic and standards that do not have certification purposes, but they are very important. These are standards SA 8000, ISO 26000, ISO 9001, ISO 9004, ISO 9000, ISO 14001, ISO 14004, OHSAS 18001, IQNet SR 10 and the National Quality Policy.