Certification of Sustainable Companies: "Good Companies" at the Intersection of Market and State

至少自联合国大会通过可持续发展目标以来，经济发展的可持续性在全球议程中占据重要地位。认证是一种重要的监管手段，用于证明符合相应的环境或社会要求。虽然商品和服务的认证程序广为人知，但可持续企业的认证开辟了新的领域：这种特定认证的主体是整个企业，而不是个别产品。不是“好产品”，而是“好公司”获得认证。在美国，这种认证的重要性迅速增加。在一个完善的私营认证制度下，符合某些社会和环境标准的公司被授予“认证B公司”的地位。希望获得此类证书的公司必须进行B影响评估。负责此评估的认证和监管机构是一个私营的非营利组织。由于这种认证做法的成功，美国许多州现在甚至提供了一种新的公司形式，即所谓的福利公司，用于那些打算服务于共同利益和利润双重目的的公司。这样的认证现在也在美国以外的地方，即在德国广泛使用。与此同时，在欧盟和成员国两级都提出了各种政策改革建议，以改善“社会企业家精神”的条件。在此背景下，我们的研究项目旨在分析可持续企业认证制度的主体、现行法律框架及其功能相似性。此外，还将在欧洲或国家一级（特别是德国）制定一个建立验证制度的潜在未来法律的框架。我们可以在这里观察到一个超越各个司法管辖区和各个法律领域的变化过程：市场和国家、自我监管和成文法如何相互作用，现在已经如此，但特别是在未来？由于公司是法律的产物，而且与其他产品不同，它们在非常不同的市场（商品、劳动力和产品市场）中竞争，因此“好公司”的认证遵循一种非常独特的动态，在政府监管框架和市场行动两个层面都是如此。鉴于这种认证在全球范围内取得的成功，在国家和市场的交叉点上对这些特征进行彻底分析的时机似乎已经成熟。

At least since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN General Assembly, sustainability in economic development ranks high on the global agenda. Certification serves as an important regulatory instrument to demonstrate compliance with the respective environmental or social requirements. While certification procedures for goods and services are widely known, the certification of sustainable corporations breaks new ground: Subject of this specific certification are businesses as a whole, not individual products. Instead of "good products", "good companies" are certified. In the US, this type of certification has rapidly gained in importance. Under a well-established private certification regime, corporations that meet certain social and environmental standards are granted the status of "Certified B Corporation". Companies that wish to obtain such certificate must undergo the B Impact Assessment. The certification and regulatory body which is in charge of this assessment acts as a private, non-profit organization. Triggered by the success of such certification practices, numerous US states now even offer a new corporate form, the so-called Benefit Corporation, for companies which intend to serve the dual purpose of common good and profit. The certification as such is now widespread also beyond the United States, namely in Germany. At the same time, there are various policy reform proposals both at EU level and at Member State level to improve the conditions for "social entrepreneurship". For instance, a respective initiative of the EU Commission has been published in a communication of 2011.Against this background, our research project aims to analyze the regime of certification of sustainable corporations with respect to its subject, its current law framework and its functional parallels. In addition, a potential future legal framework for the establishment of a certification regime will be developed, be it at European or national level (with particular respect to Germany). We can observe a process of change here which transcends the various jurisdictions and the various areas of law: How do market and state, self-regulation and statutory law interact, already nowadays, but in particular in the future to come? Since companies are products of law, and since they compete, as opposed to other products, in very different markets (goods, labor and product markets), the certification of "good companies" follows a very unique dynamics, and that at both levels of the government regulatory framework and of market actions. Given the global success of such certification, the time seems ripe for a thorough analysis of these characteristics at the intersection between the state and the market.