The new Chairman and rapporteur of the committee, Rudi Delarue, official in the Sector Social Dialogue unit of the European Commission, expressed the hope that the social partners would continue their constructive co-operation. He introduced Patricia Lamotte colleague of DG Enterprise, Unit for commerce. The social partners welcomed their new Chairman and expressed the hope for a continuing good co-operation.

> The committee approved the agenda.

> The Committee noted that EuroCommerce approved the negotiated text of the European Agreement on guidelines on Telework in Commerce as it stands. UNI-Europa Commerce announced that it will consult its members on the text as it stands. However, it stressed that this will only be a formal question considering the former consultation rounds and the importance of the agreement.

> The Committee noted that a date for the signing of the agreement will be discussed between the secretariats in co-ordination with the services of the Commission.

Mrs Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner, and Mrs Odile Quintin, Director-General of DG Employment and Social Affairs will be informed and invited to assist the signature.

Mrs Fay Devonic, Head of Unit D/2 and acting Director for "Adaptability, Social Dialogue and Social Rights" informed the Committee of the new organisation chart of DG Employment and Social Affairs and of the objectives of the new Unit D/2 "Sectoral Social Dialogue, relations with ILO and social clauses".

She congratulated the social partners with the adoption in principle of the agreement on telework. She stated that there are at the moment more than 26 sectoral social dialogue committees and that new committees will probably be established very soon.

Acknowledging the successful work of the committee, also with regard to the co-operation with national levels, she emphasised the role of the social dialogue with regard to the enlargement. She encouraged the social partners to take this task seriously and congratulated them to the Round Table meetings in Commerce that had already taken place in some of the candidate countries. Finally, she informed the social partners that she warmly welcomed the strengthening of the social dialogue committee in Commerce and the intentions to improve the follow-up of the signed agreements and declarations. The social partners should not hesitate to contact her whenever they have a question or request.

The social partner thanked Mrs Devonic. They equally stated that they appreciate the co-operation with the Commission. Commerce is the biggest private sector in terms of employment and plays an important role in the sector social dialogue.

EuroCommerce distributed a Memo on the 2001 Action Plan for the social dialogue in commerce. Ray Baker gave a detailed outline of its content. The draft Action Plan focuses on four main projects:

1. Organisation of a 2-day seminar "Developing a European Commerce based on quality and competence" in May 2002 which encompasses two studies on working condition and on vocational training ( B 34000 project leader: Eurocommerce)

2. Dissemination of the ESF project in ecommerce ( B 34000 project leader Eurocommerce)

3. Social responsibility of Business (B 34000 project leader Uni- Europa)

4. Implementation of social dialogue agreements (project shared between Uni- Europa and Eurocommerce)

UNI-Europa Commerce agreed on the importance of the areas mentioned in the Action Plan. As regards the study on vocational training, Jan Furstenborg suggested to pick up the previous agreement on vocational training and to adapt it, including competence development; he also stressed the need to work on the implementation of the agreements already reached in commerce. Moreover, he expressed the wish to have additional elements included in the work programme, such as the global compact initiative of the UN, corporate social responsibility, SA 8000, a new ILO initiative on global social dialogue in commerce and co-operation with the North Atlantic Dialogue.

He stressed the importance of the social dialogue meetings in developing strong and effective recommendations and emphasised the responsibility of the social partners to think ahead taking into account the social partners aim of achieving competitive enterprises and an enhanced quality of work and life at the same time. Eurocommerce agreed to take into account the global aspects of CSR but taking into consideration the size of the entreprises.

> The Committee notes that the secretariats will discuss and finalise the draft 2001 action plan taking into account the Memo and the interventions of the spokesperson of both UNI-Europa Commerce and Eurocommerce.

Dominique Bé ( DG EMPL/D1) gave a presentation on corporate social responsibility (CSR) which is to be understood as voluntary long-term projects enterprises of all size going beyond legislation. The presentation can be found in full on the web pages on CSR of DG Employment and Social Affairs (http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/csr_index.htm)

He indicated that Unit D/1 is in the process of developing a green paper on this topic which is expected for May 2001. Moreover, there will be an EU conference on CSR in November 2001 and a Commission Communication on CSR is planned for 2002.

> The social partners agreed on the importance of this issue while referring to their draft work programme. They equally stressed the relevance of the work of social partners. Uni- Europa also referred to the important role of NGO's in this field. EuroCommerce noted that it is important to make CSR achievable to companies which don't have their own CSR department (such as SME's).

> After an in depth discussion on different approaches and taking into account the memo and discussions on the work programme, the social partners agreed to work on a joint statement on CSR.

Samantha Mercer introduced the Employers' Forum on Age to the committee. She explained that the main function of this institution is to enable its members to gain from age diversity and to raise awareness in this respect. Finally, she provided the committee with a handout in which the members could also find the address of the web page of the Forum of Age (http://www.efa.org.uk)

The social partners discussed the topic of age diversity. UNI-Europa Commerce suggested continuing to work on this issue at secretariat level.

> The committee concluded that this discussion could help winding up the discussion on the draft agreement on elderly workers.

Jan Furstenborg gave an outline of the SA 8000 system. He suggested meeting again in order to disseminate information on the system with a view to engage European companies in it. Moreover, he informs the committee of an initiative by the Secretary General of the UN on a scheme with which businesses and social partners are encouraged to commit themselves to high standards as regards workers rights and environment (global compact programme). He suggests that the committee should consider promoting this project in Europe. Ray Baker agreed in principle to discuss but the concrete terms should be developed later.

> The committee agreed to discuss this issue at a later stage.

Ms Alexandra Rüdig from UNI-Europa Commerce gave an outline of the Round Tables project in the candidate countries. She informed the committee that there have already been Round Tables in Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, Tallinn, Vilnius and Bratislava and that four more Round Tables in Riga, Ljubliana, Zagreb and Sofia are planned in the autumn 2001 and early 2002. She explained that these Round Table meetings take place during one day, with a team of experts from the employers' and the workers' side visiting the candidate country in question. She mentioned that because of the restricted time and because of too abstract ways of presentation, these meetings have caused a some confusion for the addressees. To further develop the outcome, less technical information on the social dialogue should be focused upon and the presentations could be illustrated by computer presentations, films or handouts. Finally, Ms Rüdig calls upon EuroCommerce members in the countries concerned to participate more actively in order to achieve an equal representation of employers and workers at the meetings.

EuroCommerce thanked Ms Rüdig for this useful information. Ray Baker suggested re-examining the objectives of the Round Table meetings. Other EuroCommerce members suggested a 2-3 months notice of the timetable to ensure better employers’ participation and a questioning of the participants of the previous meetings in order to use their input to improve the outcome of the meetings.

> The Committee noted that both parties are convinced about the importance of the enlargement process and willing to co-operate in order to improve it.

UNI-Europa Commerce informed the committee that the ESF-project on e-commerce is almost finished and that there will be a final report and training material available afterwards. However, the spokesman concluded that it is too early to make final remarks at this stage. He thanked the social partners in Denmark for their active involvement and EuroCommerce for the administration of the project.

> The social partners equally stressed the importance of disseminating the project material.

The President announced that the next meeting is in principle scheduled for 31 May 2001

Participants: