CSR ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE: A LEGAL ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK

With intensified competition in international trade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues have been focused on contentions among different interest-oriented groups and thus overtly, or covertly, being taken into account as a prerequisite for fair trade. For catering to this demand, CSR certification has become a controversial topic in international trade. However, the concealment and complexity involved and woven into this certification can easily make CSR issues new barriers to trade with characteristics of multiplicity in law, sensitivity in recognition, and disputability in practice. For the sake of corporate survival and development, and a relatively harmonious and stable international trade order, it is earnestly urgent to explore appropriate legal approaches for responding to these complicated issues according to public international law.