Over two hundred published codes exist covering labour issues, a figure that includes just a fraction of buyers’ in-house codes. Forty inspections a month, each paid for by the supplier, complained a Chinese factory-owner recently. Yet just three years ago, most buying companies denied any responsibility for suppliers’ labour practice so it is a remarkable step forward. For most developing country suppliers the fact remains that an audit is not cheap. A plethora of codes, moreover, can undermine supplier and consumer confidence in ethical trade.