Date: 2017
Type: Working Paper
Suppliers’ access to voluntary sustainability standards
Working Paper, EUI RSCAS, 2017/18, Global Governance Programme-260, Global Economics
FIORINI, Matteo, HOEKMAN, Bernard M., JANSEN, Marion, SCHLEIFER, Philip, SOLLEDER, Olga, TAIMASOVA, Regina, WOZNIAK, Joseph, Suppliers’ access to voluntary sustainability standards, EUI RSCAS, 2017/18, Global Governance Programme-260, Global Economics - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/45844
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) have long become a usual attribute of international production and trade. Despite the fact that VSS are not legally binding, in order to be a part of global value chains, they have become de facto mandatory, and non-compliance may lead to exclusion of producers from the value chains. The relevance of VSS is reflected by a growing literature across social sciences, in particular economics and political science. This paper describes a new database that collects comparable information on 180 standards and their governance structure, across a wide range of products and countries. We conduct a first empirical analysis of this data with a primary focus on two aspects of standards and their governance: their practices and features in support of producers, and their geographic availability. We find high variability of support and availability across standards systems and countries respectively. Finally, we identify standards- and country-specific features associated with higher support to producers and higher geographic availability.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/45844
ISSN: 1028-3625
Series/Number: EUI RSCAS; 2017/18; Global Governance Programme-260; Global Economics
Keyword(s): Standards Voluntary sustainability standards Sustainable development Global value chains Certification F13 L15 O10 Q01
Other topic(s): Trade, investment and international cooperation