Who makes sure that companies fulfil their pledges of corporate social responsibility?
I do not trust fancy brochures in which companies congratulate themselves. Fortunately, certification can be provided by external auditors. To be sure, there are not nearly enough of them for all of the companies with such reports. And when auditors announce that they will be coming by to inspect, you can easily imagine what happens at the plant beforehand. So there is a lot of room for improvement. But it is certainly a good thing that consumers are increasingly showing an interest in these issues. You have mentioned several times that the state has to provide a sound legal environment. Are you implying that the US and the EU are right to emphasise the so-called Singapore Issues in trade talks? Governments from newly industrialising and developing countries generally do not want to negotiate international rules for competition, state tenders, investor rights and so on. But the US and the EU insist on doing so. There are many ways of looking at the Singapore Issues. This is not an homo
