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as international labour laws. These are NGOs with serious intentions and some former
ILO officials are advising their activities, but they are ultimately not responsible to

anybody. We cannot know whether they properly cite ILS and interpret them in
conformity with the established understanding of the ILO’s supervisory bodies. There

appears to be many of these private entities now operating in East and Southeast Asia.
What the ILO should perhaps do is to certify those certifying institutions and ensure
that correct advice is given by them to their clients.

(3) Supply Chain Management

When an enterprise adopts certain rules in its corporate conduct rules and,
furthermore, obliges its supply chain entities to adhere to the same rules, the CSR codes
referred to in the enterprise declaration essentially become binding rules for the suppliers,

because they cannot sell their goods or services if they do not accept the relevant CSR
codes. There are more and more enterprises, especially multinational enterprises,
adopting this kind of supply chain management. The supply chain managing enterprises
23
become de facto certifying agencies like those mentioned above. They are even stronger
than mere certifications, because it is mandatory for suppliers to fulfil the conditions to

obtain contracts. A manager of a garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City confided to me
some years ago, when I interviewed him about the CSR policy of his company, that it
was more cumbersome for him to satisfy the inspector sent by a buyer, rather than an

inspector coming from the SAI. It is obvious that the former is made more effective
24
by a threat that if the company does not abide by the CSR codes, it cannot sell any of

its products to the buyer. Supply chain management plays the role of a social clause in
a trade agreement, comparable to the situation described above with respect to the Better

23 - “PUMA SE reserves the right to cease trading with any company which is found to violate this Code
of Conduct.” Code of conduct of Puma https://about.puma.com/en/sustainability/social (visited 19 Jul 2019).
- “IWAY is the IKEA code of conduct … [which] specifies the requirements that we place on suppliers
of products and services and details what they can expect in return from IKEA.” https://www.ikea.com/ms/ar_AE/
about_ikea/our_responsibility/iway/index.html See also: https://www.ikea.cn/ms/en_CN/about_ikea/pdf/SCGlobal_
IWAYSTDVers4.pdf (visited 22 July 2019).
24 Viettien Shirts Company, visited in 2009 in Ho Chi Minh City, had been certified by ISO9001, SA8000
and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Program), at the time of interview.

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