Due to the voluntary character of the CSR, the national regulations are relatively scarce. To support the enterprises in planning a valid strategy as well as in their accountability, the need to elaborate shared standard capitalizing studies, researches and common experiences soon arose.

Economic operators, institutes and associations at national and international level have been looking for forms of cooperation and coordination to elaborate methodologies whose validity could overcome the state boundaries by virtue of the authors’ prestige. This intense activity produced a range of instrument for the certification and reporting of the corporate environmental and social performances. Some of the most important and diffused are listed below.

• SA 8000  (Social Accountability 1000): an international certification standard based on the ILO Conventions, on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has been elaborated in 1997 by the US accreditation agency CEPAA (afterwards called SAI - Social Accountability International), on the basis of nine social parameters aimed at improving the competitiveness of those  enterprises able to ensure an ethically correct conduct towards the workers within the whole production chain and cycle. The appraisal of the conformity to the social responsibility standard produces a quality certification released after a mechanism similar to that utilised for the UNI EN ISO 9000 and UNI EN ISO standards.
• AA 1000  (AccountAbility 1000): a process standard studied to support the enterprises in  the measurement of the quality of their investment in the ethical, social and environmental fields. It is articulated in the accounting, auditing and reporting, processes and focuses on the durable involvement of the stakeholders in the organisation’s life. AA 1000 has been developed in 1999 by the British ISEA, Institute of Social and Ethical Accountabiliy, to which enterprises, universities and NGOs adhere to encourage the ethical conduct of the profit and no-profit organisations.
• Global Reporting Iniziative (GRI) Guidelines: a protocol containing operational indications to prepare an environmental sustainability report. It is one of the most diffused at global level and has been elaborated in 2003 within the GRI, founded in 1997 by the CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economy), the North American organisation to which many investors, environmentalists and public interest groups adhere.
• ISO 26000: a standard that is being developed by ISO, International Organization for Standardization, NGO headquartered in Geneva and consisting of a network of 157 national institutes for the elaboration of standards. It is expected in 2010 and is aimed to provide a set of guidelines for the definition of shared evaluation concepts and methods and to encourage the voluntary commitment of public and private organisations in CSR. however, ISO has already developed other standards related to relevant issues in the context of CSR, such as, for instance, the ISO 14001  that fixes the requirements of an environmental management system.
• Fairtrade: a label for products guaranteeing that they have been processed without causing exploitation and poverty in the Developing Countries. In was established in 1994 in the framework of the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO), the international federation of the labels certifying fair and solidarity trade, grouping 20 organisations operating in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zeland, Mexico.
• Tools & Guidance Portal,  created by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (the autoritative non-governmental international centre dealing with the respect of human rights in business), containing guidances on how companies can operationalise human rights.
• CSR Europe's Toolbox - Equipping Companies and Stakeholders for a Compettive and Responsible Europe: based on the first results of the CSR Laboratories, cross-sectoral business-stakeholder cooperation projects under the umbrella of the European Alliance for CSR, it includes information, ideas and advice designed to help companies and their stakeholders address socio-economic and environmental challenges and integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into mainstream business practice.
• Eco-Efficiency-Check-up Tool: it is an energy efficiency self-assessment tool for small and medium enterprises, developed by  the   Laboratorio Echo-Efficiency, promoted by Fondazione Sodalitas, containing a set of easy practical guidelines for the SMEs aiming at improving their energy efficiency.

Some standards somehow pertinent to CSR have been established directly by the EU: 

• EMAS: the Eu voluntary instrument for the environmental and industrial policy that, trough eco-management and audit standard procedures aims at promoting the constant improvement of the environmental results of all the European organisations, and the information to the public and to all the interested parties. It has been established by the EEC 1836/93 Regulation and, subsequently, it has been modified by the EEC 761/2001 and EEC 196/2006 (EMAS II) Regualtions.  based on the  ISO 14001 standard.

• Eco-label: the EU quality label established to help consumers choose the most environmentally respectful products and services (apart from alimentary and pharmaceutical ones). The certification system is aimed at guaranteeing the limited environmental impact of the whole life-cycle of a product (including its production, usage and disposal phases). It has been introduced by the EEC 92/880 Regulation, subsequently, it has been modified by the EEC 1980/2000 Regulation, and recently it has been extended to the tourism sector.