Corporate Code Of Responsibility

The Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) drew up the following Corporate Code of Responsibility for Transnational Corporations (TNCs) operating in this country.

Primarily, the Code is a campaigning tool and is deliberately brief. The Code is a positive statement of what we are for, rather than what we are against. For example,

The CAFCA Code was not created as a gimmick to counter-balance the Government's beneficiary-bashing Code of Social Responsibility. But we urged people to send the Government back a copy of this Corporate Code of Responsibility on the basis that it should concentrate on the mugger, not the mugger's victim.

It was created after researching a large number of international codes for a model applicable here in New Zealand/Aotearoa. A draft was sent to various sector groups for comment. Further comments are welcome.

It was publicly launched at the Taking Control conference against transnationals, in Christchurch, in February 1998. It is also available from CAFCA in printed form (one side of an A4 sheet).

Corporate Code of Responsibility

Human Rights: Transnationals shall

• not kill, enslave or imprison people
• improve, and not take advantage of or worsen, the position of the disadvantaged in society
• aid and not hinder the desire of peoples to protect and enhance their own cultures
• in all of their activities ensure freedom from physical, emotional or sexual abuse
• in all of their activities not discriminate on the basis of sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief, colour, race, ethnic or national origins, disability, age, political opinion, employment status, union membership, family status or sexual orientation, except as permitted by law to improve the position of disadvantaged groups.

Workers’ Rights: Transnationals shall

• not use their international power and mobility as a weapon or threat against workers
• not use child or forced labour
• pay wages and salaries to their workers that allow a dignified existence
• protect the right of their workers to work no more than a forty hour week, paying penal rates for any time worked in excess
• allow workers the freedom and right to belong to a union, associate, organise and bargain collectively
• negotiate with workers’ authorised representatives in good faith
• give preference to residents of Aotearoa for employment
• provide safe and healthy working conditions
• respect and maintain the rights of their employees to take statutory annual leave and holidays
• abide by all International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.

Legal and government: Transnationals shall

• not use their international power and mobility as a weapon or threat against governments, their policies, taxation and other revenue, currencies or economies
• not demand greater benefits than local people or investors
• not interfere in intergovernmental relations
• not interfere in the internal affairs of host countries or attempt to manipulate or defeat public opinion or political leaders

Treaty of Waitangi: Transnationals shall

• act in accordance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Environment: Transnationals shall

• ensure all their activities maintain the integrity of local and global ecosystems
• protect air, water and soil from pollution, accepting and implementing required standards as a minimum
• accept the anticipatory principle: that it is better to prevent a problem than fix it afterwards
• accept the precautionary principle: that in the absence of sufficient scientific knowledge, the benefit of the doubt shall be given to the course of action that has least risk of serious damage to health, safety or the environment
• respect local environmental legislation and standards
• accept the necessity to deposit substantial bonds and to pay for any damage caused
• reduce, re-use and recycle materials wherever practical
• preserve and protect indigenous vegetation, wildlife and habitats
• respect animal rights.

Commercial practices and consumers: Transnationals shall

• not exploit a dominant market position, nor attempt to gain such a position
• not use their international power and mobility as a means to manipulate prices
• not use their intellectual property rights to deprive people of rights formerly theirs, or of benefits they should reasonably expect
• ensure the health and safety of customers and communities in marketing their products, freely disclosing to the public all appropriate information on the products’ contents and possible hazardous effects
• provide good and fair service to all customers
• obey in letter and spirit the standards of host countries, and international standards where they are more stringent, regarding financial information and consumer protection.

General: Transnationals shall

• not purchase from, sell to, or contract work to, parts of their own or other businesses which disobey these principles
• at all times obey both the spirit and the letter of the law of host countries
• promote and adhere to the goals of sustainable and equitable development and full employment
• respect the monitoring and enforcement of this code and comply with any resulting recommendations.

Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, P.O. Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand/Aotearoa. February 1998.