ABSTRACT
Ethical trade concerns the matter of labour standards in global supply chains. Non-governmental organisations have been able to create an actual or threat of potential business cost associated with the appearance of unethical behaviour. Ethical trade is characterised by high levels of diversity, complexity and rapid, dynamic change, fraught institutional processes, and ultimately very high stakes in terms of commercial as well as social and environmental interests and impacts. The difficulties of this institutional terrain are further exacerbated when the dynamics between the North and the South are taken into account. A stronger Southern voice is gradually emerging in the debate. The notion of civil regulation breaks down the unhelpful binary of public regulation and voluntary action that has characterised much of the debate about corporate codes of conduct and associated tools and processes. A stronger Southern voice is gradually emerging in the debate.
