The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) launched the CSR Standard-Making Initiative as a new project of the
Japanese Standards Association (JSA).
The purpose of this initiative is to explore what kinds of CSR standards are the most useful for consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders from the viewpoint of Japanese and Asian perspectives.

Based upon this analysis, the initiative plans to make a CSR standard, which is suitable and workable for not only the global community but also for the Japanese/Asian business and civil societies.

By June 2004, the initiative will finish its work of making the CSR standard. The initiative is chaired by Professor Iwao Taka, and its members are mainly representatives of major Japanese business corporations.

The Chair of the Japanese CSR initiative, Professor Taka, has stated "We strongly believe that the CSR standard should be flexible enough to respect cultural diversity and supportive enough to encourage each organization to explore a new frontier of CSR activities."