ABSTRACT
The Global Compact, a UN programme intended to help businesses become better corporate citizens, celebrated its first anniversary on 26 July with more than 300 corporate partners, up from 44 at its launch. In the heat of July 2001 in Germany, delegates managed to agree to precede with the climate-cooling Kyoto Protocol, without the world's biggest polluter, the United States. In July, August and September of 2001, a spate of publications appeared that analysed the proliferation of corporate codes of conduct. The relationship of corporate responsibility to regulation was the focus of an interview with the European Commission official in charge of the development of European policy on corporate responsibility, Dominique Be. Echoing concerns from leaders in the private sector that NGOs are sometimes quick to condemn companies that begin working on corporate responsibility, a representative of Amnesty International called on NGOs to give the benefit of the doubt when companies make public statements about their aspirations on human rights.
