'Voluntary' corporate declarations on human rights, and the necessity of external institutional (international and domestic) regulation

Corporate codes of conduct and declarations addressing human rights issues and concerns can be deemed as an expression of private regulation which may, in turn, have a positive impact on conduct. This is more likely when those codes are approved by directives and internalized by the different corporate agents; when conditions of public legitimacy are observed; when updates and concrete steps are implemented; and when there is control and supervision over the effectiveness and truthfulness of the commitments found in them. Otherwise, codes and other declarations may simply amount to instruments and strategies that deviate attention away from the need of having binding standards that fill gaps and shortcomings generated by risks of lack of protection or circumvention of state control, which do not vanish because of the existence of private standards. Therefore, while corporate codes of conduct can indeed be relevant and generate expressive and other effects that address dimensions not dealt with by judicial strategies, they should not be seen as initiatives that satisfactorily and fully replace or fulfill the needs of robust external corporate responsibility regulations and judicial actions. Hence, they must be complemented by other strategies, preferably in a multi-level and polycentric fashion.