EXECUTIVE SUMMARY __________________________________________________________________________ the exercise, has to cope with competition from the informal sector and the huge ‘parallel tax’ of corruption.  Child labour seems to be a widespread practice: UNICEF estimates that 480,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 years are working. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) indicates that this problem is due to the lack of inspection, particularly in rural areas and in the informal economy.  Only a small percentage of employees (estimated at less than 10% of the labour market) are covered by the social security system. Indeed, the formal sector does not always declare all its staff members in an attempt to avoid administrative problems and related costs.  The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not widely understood in Benin. According to Benin’s CSAR, the state has not put in place an attractive framework that encourages enterprises to assume greater social responsibility towards the grass-roots communities.  Benin has legislation and a number of mechanisms for protecting the natural environment. Although environmental impact assessments are required for developers who want to invest in activities that can have an impact on the environment, there is no respect for the environment and no enterprise in Benin has ISO 14 000 certification. 3.56 Business ethics in Benin. Several cases of bad governance, including embezzlement of public funds, forgery and the use of forgeries, were identified in the CSAR. These cases caused huge losses for the state. Ad hoc committees were set up or claims filed in the courts for these. However, very few of these cases ended up with a sentence from the courts. Furthermore, money laundering is a major problem in Benin. The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has a representative in Benin, but at present only files are transmitted to the economic offences unit, as GIABA is not yet operational in the country. 3.57 Among the constraints on the prosperity of enterprises, corruption ranks fourth in formal enterprises and sixth in informal enterprises. What is alarming is that most of the stakeholders seem to be fatalistic with respect to this scourge, which they consider to be an integral part of daily life in Benin. In the same vein, the CRM noted that Benin’s media, though active and many in number, is not used in objective economic investigation of economic misappropriations, fraud and acts of tax evasion that are rampant among public and private sector players in Benin. 3.58 Lastly, although Benin is a member of the African Intellectual Property Organization, the CRM noted that the Beninese Copyright Office (BBDRA) is still unable to address the problem of counterfeiting. It suffers from a lack of resources and a bad image, which have the effect of turning the structure into an auxiliary of the taxation services rather than a body that defends the interests of creative artists and innovation. 19