ABSTRACT
The focus on regulation at the micro-level, the level of individual corporate activity, is a response to a sustained period of voluntary self-regulation. Relevant initiatives include corporate social responsibility as well as the direct application of international human rights law to corporations. Corporate social responsibility will take a long time to crystallize into law. Corporate social responsibility’s programmes go beyond the law and are voluntary. Corporate responsibility has an important role in promoting accountability. Corporate social responsibility initiatives serve dual purposes – they are guidelines for industry and models for performance evaluation. Corporate social responsibility is at best complementary to human rights law and at worst a distraction from it. International and national laws have begun to adapt to changing social circumstances. J. Ruggie has criticized the movement towards micro-level regulation on both political and legal grounds. The macro and meso-levels of analysis highlight the complexity of corporate regulation.
