ABSTRACT
Overview: The chapter opens by elaborating on the place of TNCs in international law. The limited role of TNCs in terms of holding international obligations and taking part in international law-making is set against the role of states as the primary actors in the conventional system of international law, which is state-centric in regards to rights, duties and participation in law-making. While TNCs have been awarded considerable rights in international economic rights unmatched by corresponding obligations for their adverse societal impacts, rights-holders in regards to human rights are typically victims of human rights abuse or their representatives. Further, Chapter 2 explains that civil society organisations, which may represent victims but can also be associations of business, can obtain consultative status with international organisations like the UN, and in this capacity have access to a limited form of participation in international law-making, primarily to provide input to the process. The chapter proceeds to explain how international law-making theory has proposed to increase the participation of business in super-national law-making to develop norms of conduct for businesses order to provide for stronger support among them for the resulting normative directives. Next, it explains how regulatory innovation has occurred in practice through various types of public, private and public-private (hybrid) initiatives that have emerged in recent decades to set normative guidance for business conduct with regard to societal impacts. Following this, the connection and inter-relationship between sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and governance needs are discussed. Finally, the chapter sets out the key actors in public-private law-making aiming at governing business conduct with regards to societal impacts, and explains the quite considerable and often conflicting power interests at play with public organisations, businesses and business organisations, the labour movement and NGOs representing civil society.
