It should by now be abundantly clear that, regardless of the obligations of states, companies have responsibility for their impact on human rights. It should be clear that the exercise of this responsibility in no way supplants or diminishes that of governments...We need first a set of criteria against which the performance of all can be measured and, most importantly, compared. It is these criteria - a set of comprehensive international human rights principles – which are currently lacking. We also need reporting on social and environmental impacts as a compulsory requirement for stock exchange listings. For the first the Ruggie exercise [John Ruggie, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on business & human rights] is central. In the second the law has a role.