Proactive Compliance? – Repercussions of National Product Regulation in Standards of Transnational Business Networks

This paper ('Sfb-Arbeitspapier') illustrates the links between the self-regulation of transnational business networks and the law by analysing the management of chemical substance risks in the electric and electronic equipment industry. National product regulation (and to some extent regulation of production processes) can influence standards employed globally by leading corporations within their network of suppliers and contract manufacturers. However, it is also shown that the diffusion of regulatory standards within transnational production networks is not a linear process: corporate actors to some extent selectively appropriate standards and proactively self-regulate substances of concern that are not yet regulated by state-based law. Similarly, the suppliers may also influence the contents of the standards used in the network.