Regulatory regimes may be conceptualised as consisting of three elements: rule-making (standard setting), monitoring compliance, and enforcement (administration of sanctions) (Picciotto 2002, Scott 2002). Many different forms of private regulation exist, examples are: corporate social...

Within agri-industry chains, important changes have taken place. Both vertical integration and vertical disintegration are occurring. These transformations may have effects on the adoption of private standards, but more importantly, may also affect the functions of private standards within the...

Food safety is a highly debated issue. Food industry organizations, retailers and national and transnational governments have been trying to find new ways to regulate food safety. Can private regulation of food safety meet the high expectations? A review of existing literature shows some...

In many industries, companies rely on private third-party audits to monitor their suppliers’ adherence to various standards. These audits are frequently paid for by the entity being audited, which creates a conflict of interest that incentivizes auditors to reduce the burden of audits by...