UN Global Compact ejects a further 203 companies

London, 4 January: The United Nations' Global Compact, a voluntary reporting initiative on corporate citizenship, has delisted 203 companies for failing to communicate their progress.

All companies participating in the Global Compact are expected to report annually on how they are implementing the initiative's ten principles, which embrace human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption measures. Organisations that miss two consecutive deadlines are delisted.

"We are disappointed each time a company is delisted from the Global Compact, but this is a necessary measure to uphold the value of the good efforts being made by the majority of our participants," said executive director Georg Kell.

The first series of 335 delistings took place in October but, in future, companies will be removed on a daily rather than quarterly basis.

The Global Compact's website lists 489 inactive companies, and almost 70% of these are based in the developing world. According to Jeff Senne, communication on progress manager, this is partly due to a lack of support networks in these countries. Many companies in the developing world are unused to financial reporting, let alone corporate social responsibility reporting, he said.

"A large proportion of our Philippines companies have been inactive because they don't have the support network," he noted, adding that efforts are underway to address the problem.

Of those in the industrialised world, French and Spanish companies were particularly bad at reporting, with more than 50 organisations delisted in each country.

A company can regain its status as a member of the Global Compact by submitting a communication on its progress. Senne said 2,934 businesses are actively reporting.