Center for Corporate Auditing, Responsibility and Management policy Authoring/Supporting the state of rights policy

Moral culture must be based upon 'maxims', not upon discipline; the one prevents evil habits, the other trains the mind to think. We must see, then, that the child should accustom himself to act in accordance with 'maxims' and not from certain ever-changing springs of action. Through discipline we form certain habits, moreover, the force of which becomes lessened in the course of years. The child should learn to act according to 'maxims', the reasonableness of which he is able to see for himself. One can easily see that there is some difficulty in carrying out this principle with young children, and that moral culture demands a great deal of insight on the part of parents and teachers.

—On education (Über Pädagogik), Immanuel Kant

Supporting the state of rights policy

Introduction

The policy is intended to support the state of rights (Rechtsstaat) by furthering the adherence to legal requirements in the supply chain and society in general. A basic principle of the policy is to reject any advantage gained by means that are known to break applicable law and not to restrict this goal to means that cause reproach or even legal action against the company. Every director, officer, employee, or contractor responsible for a third party relationship is responsible to encourage compliance with and adoption of this policy by such third party.

Corporate citizenship

1. The employer should set an example of good citizenship and create a culture of compliance, making general adherence to legal requirements and internal standards a goal of the company.
2. The company must implement the Tariff plan policy.
3. The employer should implement the Global Compact policy and the Agenda 21 policy.
4. The employer should go further and provide an example of good citizenship beyond legal requirements (e.g. intercultural competence, citizens' involvement, corporate volunteering).
5. The employer has to provide vocational training. This should be seen to follow from article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Failure to do so should be seen as a complete failure to implement this policy.

Continuing education

The legislation of the state of residence and that of other states is obviously a relevant topic for continuing education, especially because in school the topic legislation if often treated as a minor matter. In Germany, for instance, the subject legal studies (Rechtskunde) exists only in a few selected secondary schools and is not part of the mandatory curriculum.

1. The employer has to make legal studies a relevant part of the continuing education of his employees.
2. The employer has to communicate unquestionable endorsement for the adherence to legal requirements and to encourage whistleblowing in the company and the supply chain.
3. The employer has to inform employees about relevant legislation and changes of relevant legislation in a way that seems adequate for the respective employee. As a general rule to distribute no information at all to any specific group of employees should be considered to disqualify the employer.

Center for Corporate Auditing, Responsibility and Management policy Authoring