The Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, City University of New York has formed the International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA).

ICCA will:

1) Assist companies in devising codes of conduct for their global supply chain;

2) Monitor compliance to these codes; and,

3) Provide research on policies and procedures, strategies and standards to assist large corporations, journalists, scholars and policymakers in the rapidly changing field of workers' human rights, sustainable development and discrimination based on religion, race, ethnicity and gender.

The model for ICCA is the Independent Monitoring Council (MIMCO) created by Mattel, Inc. in 1997 in affiliation with Zicklin School of Business.

MIMCO was created to monitor Mattel's compliance with its worldwide code of conduct called Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP).

ICCA will absorb the activities currently performed by MIMCO and expand on them to encourage and assist other multinational corporations to create, implement and arrange independent monitoring of codes of conduct.

"The creation of ICCA is an excellent step in the development of independent monitoring and verification programs; and its broadened activities provide an opportunity for many companies to benefit from this model," says Robert Eckert, CEO of Mattel.