History

ECCJ was launched in 2005 by European NGOs and national coalitions working on the subject of Corporate Accountability. Up to that date, there have been a number of initiatives from the EU that have had an impact on the work of NGOs operating in this space. This includes the Green Paper on CSR, issued in 2001 and the Modernisation Directive impacting on reporting, which came into effect in 2005. Many of ECCJ’s organisations campaigned separately on these matters, or participated independently in the multi-stakeholder forum on CSR, established by the EU. However, it was agreed that such efforts were inadequate. To provide NGOs and their national-based coalitions an opportunity to develop a more cohesive approach in working at the European level, ECCJ was established.

Since then, ECCJ has received funding from a variety of sources and has established a secretariat in Brussels with one full-time staff member. ECCJ members are currently present in 16 different countries around Europe.

Click here to view our members.

Since its creation ECCJ has succesfully campaigned on transparency issues and was involved substantially with the resolution on Corporate Social Responsibility "CSR: a new partnership" that was passed by the European Parliament (EP) in March 2007.