It is the human rights abuse that everybody likes to maintain is not happening. But within corporate supply chains across the developing world – from the cocoa-growing lands of the Ivory Coast to the seafood sector of Thailand – human trafficking and modern day slavery is still commonplace, with people being made to work and live in appalling conditions with little or no pay.

CBX Software, a provider of sourcing-management applications to the retail industry, has joined with SGS, the global inspection, testing and verification body, to provide an integrated sourcing, quality, compliance and supply-chain service.

GS1 US, an information-standards body, has expanded its Advisory Services offering.

Claims related to the massive explosion at the port of Tianjin, China, may grow to as much as $6bn, says the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI). More than half of the claims reportedly fall within marine insurance or reinsurance lines - potentially making it the largest single marine disaster (by claim value) in history, surpassing Hurricane Sandy.

In many businesses, supply chain management historically has fallen outside the core of the company's compliance function. But that was then. A renewed push this year by state, federal and international regulators – not to mention consumer advocacy groups, NGOs and foreign legislatures – to conscript the business community into the fight against human trafficking and the use of child, indentured, forced and other forms of coerced labor has brought supply chain management to the front and center of the corporate compliance world.

Are consumers really willing to pay more for a product that's environmentally sustainable and socially responsible? Depends on whom you ask.

Want to make sure that your imports or exports are traveling on a "clean" ship? There's a way to do that.