Background

The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative that seeks to advance universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption through the active engagement of the corporate community, in cooperation with civil society and representatives of organized labour. The initiative is not designed, nor does it have the mandate or resources, to monitor or measure participants’ performance. Nevertheless, with the aim of assuring that the integrity of the Global Compact is safeguarded at all times, the Secretary-General has adopted the following measures.

Misuse of Association with the UN Global Compact

The use of the Global Compact’s name and logos are limited to certain authorized users and instances only. The full policy statement is available on the Global Compact website and should be consulted; questions should be addressed to the Global Compact Office. The Global Compact Office reserves the right to take appropriate action in the event of a breach of this policy. More information caon be found here.

Failure to Communicate Progress

The Global Compact’s policy on communicating progress asks participants to communicate annually to all stakeholders their progress in implementing the ten principles (download COP policy here). Participants are also expected to submit a link to or description of their communication on progress to the Global Compact website and/or, Global Compact local network website.

If a participant fails to communicate its progress by the deadline, it will be listed as "non-communicating" on the Global Compact website. If a further year passes without the submission of a COP, the company will be de-listed. The Global Compact reserves the right to publish the names of companies that have been de-listed for failure to communicate their progress.

Allegations of Systematic or Egregious Abuses

The Global Compact welcomes any participant that pledges to work towards implementation of the Global Compact principles through learning, dialogue, projects, process improvements or other such measures. Moreover, it is not now and does not aspire to become a compliance based initiative. Nevertheless, safeguarding the reputation, integrity and good efforts of the Global Compact and its participants requires transparent means to handle credible allegations of systematic or egregious abuse of the Global Compact’s overall aims and principles. The Global Compact Office can assist or provide guidance in this regard. More information can be found here.