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Designated Industries to Prepare Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports

Publish time:2014-09-23

The recent food safety and gas explosion incidents have seriously affected consumer confidence, public safety, and international perception. In response, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) held a press conference on September 18, 2014 to announce that companies from the food, financial, and chemical industries, those with annual food and beverage revenue accounting for more than 50% of total revenue, and those with paid-in capital of more than 10 billion NTD will all be compelled to prepare and publish corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports.
 
After gathering statistics, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) found that a total of 170 listed companies met these conditions. Amongst these, 71 companies have already prepared CSR reports, while 99 have not yet done so. 
 
In the past, Taiwan had been employing an encouraging attitude to urge companies to prepare CSR reports. Now, the purpose for making these reports mandatory is to compel companies to conduct a comprehensive review of the economic, environmental, and social issues affected by their business operations through the preparation process. Furthermore, TWSE will be able to refer to these reports to develop relevant policies and response measures, and ultimately present a comprehensive range of measures for implementation to stakeholders. In accordance with regulations, such as “Operating Rules of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation” and “Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation Rules Governing Information Filing by Companies with TWSE Listed Securities and Offshore Fund Institutions with TWSE Listed Offshore Exchange-Traded Funds”, TWSE will be requiring companies that meet these conditions to refer to "internationally accepted guidelines" when preparing CSR reports. Furthermore, these reports must be published before the end of June each year. Considering that they may need more time, companies preparing these reports for the first time may publish their reports before the end of December.
 
Meanwhile, to improve the overall quality of CSR reports prepared by listed companies, TWSE is collaborating with professional training units to provide courses on how to prepare these reports according to the framework of internationally accepted guidelines. These courses are expected to start in November.