The European Coalition for Corporate Justice has published two case studies which claimed that European companies are not respecting environmental and human rights standards when operating in countries outside the EU.
The first case study, entitled “Failure to communicate”, focuses on the operations of steel conglomerate Arcelor Mittal in South Africa and on the claims of environmental pollution and degradation of labour rights.
An important point made in the report is that the South African authorities knew very well Arcelor Mittal’s record of serious environmental pollution.
According to the report:
According to the report, Arcelor Mittal and the South African government are withholding information which could enable the interested parties to assess the company’s impact on environment and if the company’s plan to act against pollution is effective.
Following public campaigns in the 1990’s, Arcelor Mittal has adopted an environment management plan but the government has agreed that the plan would not be made public. Moreover, the government “will not allow full public disclosure of the information it contains, including the level of
pollution caused by ArcelorMittal.”
The lack of information affects not only the public at large but also the public authorities. For example, the “waste site public monitoring committee” cannot assess the impacts of the Arcelor Mittal waste site on society and the
environment.
The attempts to determine Arcelor Mittal to change its policy have failed and the multinational stated in a letter that it “will not be in the best interest
of ArcelorMittal South Africa” to disclose the requested information.
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