Unilateral and Regional Initiatives. Some U.S. trade legislation attaches conditions on trading partners' labor standards. The North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union include agreements on labor standards. While such national and regional actions are obviously easier to implement than international accords, they undermine a rules-based multilateral trading system. Private Sector Initiatives.
Product labels certifying conditions of production are a way of responding to consumer concerns.
Public or private organizations can provide information by investigating and reporting on labor practices. Companies which are found to abide by certain agreed-upon standards would be certified as such. Producers may be very responsive to such concerns as even moderate losses of market share strongly affect profitability. Moreover, firms show through their philanthropic contributions and some of their advertising that public image is important to them. They, therefore, have an incentive to monitor themselves.