Sustainability - Romania

Updated 04.2010

Legal requirements

To apply European sustainability principles and practices, in 2008 Romania drew up a new National Strategy for Sustainable Development, 2013-2020-2030. This strategy is the result of collaboration between the Government of Romania and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

National Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Romania [1 MB]
Legal framework for the National Strategy for Sustainable Development [6 MB]

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is still a relatively new area for Romanian businesses.

The establishment of the Directorate for Corporate Social Responsibility within the Ministry of Labour, the Family and Equal Opportunities is a response to the European directive on corporate social responsibility.

Corporate Social Responsibility Directive

Corporate social responsibility encourages employers to take into consideration the interests of all parties, namely:

shareholders or partners;
communities;
customers;
employees.

Corporate social responsibility also encourages the voluntary inclusion of social and environmental concerns as part of the strategy and policies of a firm.

While CSR has a direct impact on large companies, it can also be a strategic tool for increasing SME competitiveness.

Standards

In Romania, the ISO standards are adopted and publicised by the Asociaţia de Standardizare din România, ASRO (Romanian Standardisation Association) which, through its specialists, has a presence on the ISO's in the international technical committees.

Romanian Standardisation Association

The following standards are applied in Romania:

Standard ISO 26000 makes provision for the following:

the provision of technical support for organisations interested in undertaking social responsibility efforts with regard to cultural, environmental, social and legal matters;
orientation of organisational practices towards credible social responsibility.
International standard ISO 26000 on social responsibility

Standard SA 8000 aims to improve working conditions on the basis of compliance with the principles of human rights conventions.

Standard SA 8000

Standard ISO 9001 refers to quality management systems and aims to ensure customer satisfaction and compliant services and products.

Standard ISO 9001 Quality management system

Standard ISO 14001 demonstrates that a company's environmental management system has been tested and found to be compliant with the good practice standard.

Standard ISO 14001 Environmental management system

Standard OHSAS 18001 presents the requirements of a management system that enables an organisation to manage its occupational health and safety risks and improve managerial performance.

Standard OHSAS 18001 Operational health and safety [121 KB]

The law requires businesses to comply with minimum social and environmental rules.

Administrative procedures

Certification of standards

Quality management standards

The certifying body for Standard ISO 9001 Quality management system is ASRO OC-SMC.

Information about the certification process
Application form for SMC certification [33 KB]

Environmental management standards

Standard ISO 14001 Environmental management system is certified by ASRO OC-SMM.

Stages of SMM certification
Application form for SMM certification

Occupational safety management standards

Certification of standard OHSAS 18001 Occupational health and safety management system is carried out by ASRO SMSSO-OC.

Stages of SMSSO certification
Application form for SMSSO certification [30 KB]

Programmes

The programmes promoted by the MaiMultVerde (Greener) organisation focus on three strategic issues: clean air, education and voluntary work, and are financed from the social responsibility budgets of certain companies in Romania.

Corporate involvement programmes for environmental protection

The CSR-Romania Programme promotes the idea of ethical management, in general, and the idea of corporate social responsibility, in particular, in the Romania market.

CSR-Romania programme

Check also the legislation on this topic in:

Sustainability - Romania