Verbruggen, Paul --- "Private regulatory standards in commercial contracts: questions of compliance" [2017] ELECD 1196; in Brownsword, Roger; van Gestel, A.J. Rob; Micklitz, Hans-W. (eds), "Contract and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 284

Book Title: Contract and Regulation

Editor(s): Brownsword, Roger; van Gestel, A.J. Rob; Micklitz, Hans-W.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784710651

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Private regulatory standards in commercial contracts: questions of compliance

Author(s): Verbruggen, Paul

Number of pages: 39

Abstract/Description:

Regulatory standards developed by non-state, private actors are regularly incorporated into contemporary international commercial contracts. They serve as a means to regulate the quality attributes of products and services provided through transnational supply chains. Assessing and ensuring compliance with these private standards proves challenging, first of all because the qualities private standards aim to ensure are often credence qualities. Secondly, the most prominent standards are process based and can be unclear or ambiguous. This triggers important (socio-)legal questions concerning the substantive and procedural aspects of compliance with private regulatory standards in commercial contracts that this chapter seeks to discuss. In addressing these aspects it reviews (empirical) studies on the use of private standards in contracts, private certification schemes and case law on the interpretation of private standards. Keywords: private standards, compliance, enforcement, supply chain, certification, corporate social responsibility