UNU-CRIS Director Philippe De Lombaerde, Professorial Fellow Samuel Standaert and former research intern Tim Devriendt, in collaboration with VUB Professor Liliana Lizarazo Rodriguez contributed a chapter on “Regional Economic Integration and Responsible Business” to the first edition of the book "The Routledge Companion to International Law and Responsible Business" edited by Bart Wernaart.
The regulatory framework within which international businesses operate is produced at different levels: local, subnational, national, supranational and global. This chapter focuses on the supra-national regional level and how various forms of regional cooperation and integration contribute to shaping an environment for responsible business conduct (RBC). The chapter provides a conceptual framework and shows how regional cooperation is legally codified and how RBC norms permeate international economic law. It then explores how regional economic cooperation contributes to RBC by incorporating RBC clauses or clauses that require states to regulate adverse impacts on ecosystems and human rights in trade agreements and regional organization treaties. It finally focuses on a specific type of regional institution, namely regional courts, and shows their potential to connect international sustainability law with RBC.
The chapter can be found here, and is open access.