Centre for Enterprise Liability

Centre for Enterprise Liability is a research centre at the Law Faculty at the University of Copenhagen. The centre conducts research in the legal implications of the research project: "Sustainability and Responsibility".

In recent years, interest in, and the growth of, sustainable solutions has been growing at a fast pace, and this is now a global phenomenon. Sustainability affects all areas, and thus also jurisprudence. Sustainability is a broad description, which covers Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Responsible Investments, Corporate Governance and Risk Management. A large number of national and international parties contribute to this development, including national governments, EU, UN, OECD, NGOs, grass-roots organisations and private associations of people, companies and funds. Sustainability is a current issue in all companies, both public and private.

A main feature of sustainability is that it is not based on legislation (hard law) but is, on the contrary, a voluntary acceptance of guidelines, recommendations etc. (soft law), which are drawn up outside of the traditional legislative bodies. Examples of this are the UN's Global Compact and PRI or the Danish recommendations on good corporate leadership. Under Danish law, from the year of account starting 1st January 2009 or later, the 1,200 largest companies in Denmark are required to provide details of their policies for social responsibility. The concept of sustainability is developing constantly, and changes in step with social, climatic and technological developments, in addition to the current political and ethical thinking on the role of people, society and businesses locally, regionally and globally.