Between 2000 and 2001, the European Commission decided, following the favourable opinion of the ISPA Management Committee [4], a total of 169 projects proposed by the Candidate Countries (B7-020 budget line), amounting to a total eligible cost of EUR 6,113 million, of which the EU will finance EUR 3,938 million or 64.3 %.

In this context, CSR management systems - like Total Quality Management systems - could allow enterprises to have a clear picture of their social and environmental impacts, help them to target the significant ones and manage them well.

The Commission will continue to facilitate an exchange of information and dissemination of good practices about awareness raising strategies and activities, with a particular emphasis on SME, and initiatives aimed at exploring and establishing Total Quality Management Systems as well as other policies (CSR-related legislation and support).

The Commission is assisted in its task by the Joint Management Committee, the Standing Group on the Promotion of Agricultural Products of the Advisory Committee on Agricultural Product Health and Safety, and can also consult ad hoc technical working groups made up of members of the Management Committee.

The cornerstone of this resolution is the setting-up of a self-assessment framework of total quality management in public services (so-called "Cadre d'Auto-évaluation des Fonctions publiques" or Common Assessment Framework, CAF).

Also part of the whole process are technological innovation, R D policy, cooperation with scientific institutes and research centres, ongoing improvement of human resources training and the search for new and improved ways of presenting the product (more environment-friendly packaging, labelling providing the consumer with information that is as extensive and as accurate as possible) - in short, we are talking about investment in quality, indeed in 'total quality'. The aim is not merely to ensure the quality of the products per se, but to integrate quality into all the proces ...[+++]ses, the technical and human resources, management and organization - into the enterprise as whole.