The corporate social responsibility instruments covered in this publication attempt to close the gap between enforceable mandatory laws and the universal principles and values embodied in agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include instruments which set out aspirational principles for corporate behavior, instruments which underlie engagement in partnerships, those that benchmark best practice, those that set the basis for communicating levels of performance directly to consumers and other stakeholders and those that are tied to the terms of trade for investment and sourcing.
