Integrity Measures

1. 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.

2. Misuse of Association with the UN and/or Global Compact

The use of the United Nations name and emblem and any abbreviation thereof is reserved for official purposes of the Organization in accordance with General Assembly resolution 92(I) of 7 December 1946. That resolution expressly prohibits the use of the United Nations name and emblem for commercial purposes or in any other manner without the prior authorization of the Secretary-General, and recommends that Member States take the necessary measures to prevent the unauthorized use thereof.

The United Nations emblem may be authorized for use by non-UN entities in exceptional circumstances, such as for illustrative and educational purposes. All uses of the UN emblem by non-UN entities require the prior written authorization of the Secretary-General. Requests for such authorization should be submitted to the Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 or Fax: +1-212-963-3155. Any suspected misuse of the UN name or emblem similarly should be referred to the Office of Legal Affairs.

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. Possible actions may include, but are not limited to, revoking participant status, requesting the assistance of the relevant Global Compact governmental authorities and/or instituting legal proceedings. Any suspected misuse of the Global Compact name or logos should be referred to the Global Compact Office.

3. 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 expelled. The Global Compact reserves the right to publish the names of companies that have been expelled for failure to communicate on their progress.

Non-communicating companies can become active participants by posting their COP. Companies that have been expelled need to reapply to join the Global Compact. Their application must be accompanied by their COP.

4. 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, by means of the measures described below. The purpose of these measures in the first instance always will be to promote continuous quality improvement and assist participants in aligning their actions with the commitments they have undertaken with regard to the Global Compact principles. It should be noted that the Global Compact Office will not involve itself in any way in any claims of a legal nature that a party may have against a participating company or vice versa. Similarly, the measures set out below are not intended to affect, pre-empt or substitute for other regulatory or legal procedures or proceedings in any jurisdiction.

Thus, when a matter is presented in writing to the Global Compact Office, the Office will:

1. use its judgement to filter out prima facie frivolous allegations. If a matter is found to be prima facie frivolous, the party raising the matter will be so informed and no further action will be taken on the matter by the Global Compact Office.
2. If an allegation of systematic or egregious abuse is found not to be prima facie frivolous, the Global Compact Office will forward the matter to the participating company concerned, requesting
   
   1. written comments, which should be submitted directly to the party raising the matter, with a copy to the Global Compact Office, and
   2. that the Global Compact Office be kept informed of any actions taken by the participating company to address the situation which is the subject matter of the allegation. The Global Compact Office will inform the party raising the matter of the above-described actions taken by the Global Compact Office.
3. The Global Compact Office would be available to provide guidance and assistance, as necessary and appropriate, to the participating company concerned, in taking actions to remedy the situation that is the subject matter of the allegation in order to align the actions of the company with its commitments to the Global Compact principles.

The Global Compact Office may, in its sole discretion, take one or more of the following steps, as appropriate:

1. Use its own good offices to encourage resolution of the matter;
2. Ask the relevant country/regional Global Compact network, or other Global Compact participant organization, to assist with the resolution of the matter;
3. Refer the matter to one or more of the UN entities that are the guardians of the Global Compact principles for advice, assistance or action;
4. Share with the parties information about the specific instance procedures of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and, in the case of matters relating to the labour principles, the interpretation procedure under the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy.
5. Refer the matter to the Global Compact Board, drawing in particular on the expertise and recommendations of its business members.

Global Compact LEAD companies are expected to demonstrate an even greater preparedness to engage in dialogue with stakeholders and address matters raised under the integrity measures as well as to publicize their grievance mechanisms among stakeholders.

If the participating company concerned refuses to engage in dialogue on the matter within two months [1] of first being contacted by the Global Compact Office under sub-paragraph (b) above, it may be regarded as “non-communicating”, and would be identified as such on the Global Compact website until such time as a dialogue commences. If, as a result of the process outlined above and based on the review of the nature of the matter submitted and the responses by the participating company, the continued listing of the participating company on the Global Compact website is considered to be detrimental to the reputation and integrity of the Global Compact, the Global Compact Office reserves the right to remove that company from the list of participants and to so indicate on the Global Compact website.

A participating company that is designated “non-communicating” or is removed from the list of participants will not be allowed to use the Global Compact name or logo if such permission had been granted.

If the participating company concerned has subsequently taken appropriate actions to remedy the situation that is the subject matter of the allegation, and has aligned its actions with the commitments it has undertaken with regard to the Global Compact principles, the company may seek reinstatement as an “active” participant to the Global Compact and to the list of participants on the Global Compact website. If there is a local network in the country where the company is based, the company should first approach the local network; in all other cases the Global Compact Office should be contacted directly. Only the Global Compact Office can make a final determination of reinstatement.

The Global Compact Office is committed to ensuring a fair process for the parties involved. In order to promote the productive resolution of matters raised, no entity involved in the process should make any public statements regarding the matter until it is resolved.

1. The requisite two-month period during which a participating company must engage in dialogue with parties raising a matter was changed from three-months by decision of the Global Compact Board on 24 July 2009.

These Integrity Measures will be reviewed periodically by the Global Compact Board, the Annual Local Networks Forum and the Global Compact Leaders Summit.
(Last update 14 April 2011)