Many labor-rights experts are skeptical of the use of supply-chain standards to ensure effective compliance with international labor standards, viewing them with the same jaundiced eye as they do codes of corporate social responsibility, which may be seen as weak substitutes for state enforcement. Institutional purchaser- mandated supply-chain standards, however, can serve as powerful compliance tools, provided that they are properly drafted, understood, and implemented. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), recently expanded to in-clude social responsibility criteria with labor rights, serves as one of the important examples.
