Guidelines Declared by International Bodies

Moral and social responsibility has become an issue of concern among those in the world arena.

The International Standardization Organization and the Ethics Official Association consisting of 920 enterprises from the United States have been promoting the standardization of the draft called “System Standard For. Business Conduct (BCMSS)” in two years. The draft standard comprises of such basic arrangements as *enterprise prepares ethical declaration, *appoints ethic manager, and *sets up the internal uncovering system. Once adopted, major companies in each country tend to meet social pressures head on for preparation of their own ethical management system. Thus enterprise ethics are initiated.

Company`s social responsibility (CSL) is emphasized on a collective basis in Europe. ”EOROSIF” was created in 2001 to urge investors to only purchase stocks and bonds from companies verified ethically in 5 European countries including Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and France. Accordingly, “socially responsible investment funds” come to market one at a time, and money is put into only those enterprises carrying out measures for ethical and social responsibility.

The European Unit released its “green paper” on CRS in 2001. The report has made it clear the importance of company reliability and transparency, with activities creating added value for the community, dealing with environmental issues, consumer protection and promotion of CSR in small and medium-sized firms.

As industries are increasingly sharing this social burden, international organizations such as the OECD, International Transparency Institution (TI) and WTO announced from the 1990s, the “Guidelines for multilateral companies” and “Agreement for prevention of bribery in international transactions” to emphasize legitimacy and ethics in enterprises.

Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the U.N., began promotion of the “Global Compact” underlining the social role of industries in the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in 1999. Since then, global compacts are playing a role in more than 30 countries under the auspices of U.N. programs having gained support commitments from over 700 companies.

The WTO entered into an agreement of transparency for government supply in 1996 and the OECD concluded the pact for prevention of bribery in international commercial businesses in 1997.

The guidelines for multilateral enterprises as declared by OECD in 2001 have been supported widely by member country governments, industries and social entities. These guidelines include such provisions for ethics and responsibility of industries by listing companies, employment, labor relations, environment, prevention of injustice and corruption, consumer protection, technical development, and competition.

Yeon-Su Shin Joong-Hyun Park ysshin@donga.com sanjuck@donga.com