Global Governance, Legal Pluralism and the Decentered State: A Labor Law Critique of Codes of Corporate Conduct

Abstract

Typically referred to as "codes of corporate conduct," corporate self-regulatory initiatives have also been called "sourcing guidelines" to the extent that they are implemented by subcontractors.The infrequent but more coordinated industry-wide attempts of MNEs to work alongside consumer groups, human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and trade unions to establish common standards and monitoring mechanisms have been labeled "voluntary monitoring initiatives."Codes of corporate conduct are described broadly by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to mean "commitments voluntarily made by companies, associations or other entities, which put forth standards and principles for the conduct of business activities in the marketplace.This definition includes self-obligations and negotiated instruments."See OECD Working Party of the Trade Committee, Codes of Corporate Conduct: An Inventory 5, available at http://www.oecd.org/ech/index_2.htm(last visited Apr. 5, 2001) (compiling information on 233 codes of corporate conduct, 122 of which referred to fair employment and labor rights) [hereinafter OECD Inventory).This difference in nomenclature underscores the point that the audience for codes of corporate conduct varies, even though with respect to labor standards, all purport to regulate local workers' employment conditions.

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