In June 2011 the UN adopted a set of Guiding Principles, UNGPs, which describe how corporations are expected to deal with their responsibility to respect human rights including labour rights. The expectations listed in the UNGPs apply to all companies and establish a global reference point for what corporations can expect from actors, including suppliers, in the value chain. The UNGPs were unanimously adopted by the UN and since then they have been widely endorsed by businesses, business associations, civil society and states. They are now part of the CSR policies of the OECD, the World Bank and the EU.

In October 2011 the EU Commission launched a renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. The Commission puts forward a new definition of CSR as:

The Ethical Trading Initiative-UK (ETI), the Ethical Trading Initiative-Norway (IEH) and the Danish Ethical Trading Initiative (DIEH) welcome the renewed EU strategy and embrace the Commission’s understanding of CSR as business impact on society including their supply chains and the alignment of EU policies on CSR with international principles and guidelines.

European businesses are today faced with a number of challenges when it comes to upholding human and labour rights and good environmental standards in their supply chains as well as challenges on how to reduce the risk of complicity in breaches of said rights and standards. For more than 10 years the ETIs have been working in a tripartite manner equipping European companies with knowledge, tools and networks in order to meet these challenges. The Commission emphasizes in its strategy the need for a balanced multi-stakeholder approach that takes account of the views of enterprises, non-business stakeholders and Member States to increase impact.

The new international and European frameworks for responsible business conduct raise questions about; whether the traditional compliance approach to Ethical Trade (audit - corrective action) is the most effective; whether companies alone can in reality assess the efforts of all suppliers in relation to human rights and labour rights; and what companies in practice can do if the new frameworks are to make a real difference.

Registration by e-mail to hg@dieh.dk before 1. February