Responsible
business conduct - an ICC approach
Paris, 6
June 2000 - A new
section of ICC's website provides a guide to how companies can develop their
own principles of responsible business conduct.
The paper points out that
wealth generation and economic growth are the foundations of business's capacity
to improve environmental and social conditions.
Responsible
business conduct: an ICC approach, was prepared by business experts
working in ICC's Group Business in Society. It provides practical advice to
ICC members on how to situate individual company principles in the existing
framework of generic business principles - many of them drafted by ICC - and
government and international codes.
The central message is that
there can be no single, uniform set of model principles that apply to all companies
and that to be effective business principles should be voluntary and implemented
by the companies themselves.
"A one-size-fits-all
approach is incompatible with the great diversity that exists within business,"
the paper says.
In the end, deeds are what
matter, the ICC experts point out. "In the final analysis, it is the behaviour
of the company that counts - not the existence of a formal set of business principles.
So, whether or not a company decides to adopt a
nd publish business principles,
this should not be seen as the only indicator of its commitment to good corporate
practices."
The new section is a unique
guide to the world of corporate codes and principles. It provides access to
relevant texts, with links to such seminal statements as the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights and
Work and the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development.
There are links to ICC codes,
like the ICC Rules of Conduct on Extortion and Bribery in International Business,
and the ICC marketing and advertising codes plus links to corporate websites
that include company principles.
These various principles
and codes can serve as useful references for companies in the development of
their own individual business principles.