Who pays for the costs associated with the implementation of codes remains a crucial issue. This cost generally cannot be met by the suppliers. To do so they will have to be paid more for their services and given other incentives. This means sourcing companies will have to make policy changes (for example, pricing structures) to allow suppliers to achieve the standards outlined in the code.

Companies need to address the conflicting logic of simultaneously pursuing lower prices and shorter delivery times whilst at the same time pursuing compliance with labour standards. In practice, companies often run parallel and often uncoordinated systems: one to assure the maximizing of profits and one to assure compliance with ethical standards. Current purchasing practices on the part of buyers tend to undermine the capacity of the supplier to comply with labour standards. And when buyers make the ethically questionable choice to source from countries that outlaw or restrict freedom of association, such as China or Vietnam, it is even more likely that workers and their organisations will be marginalized or excluded from the mechanisms set up to implement, monitor or verify code compliance. While no boycott of such countries is being proposed, the choice to move production to these places does have serious implications, since the ability to join and form unions of their choice is after all a fundamental workers' right and in the end, without the ability for workers' to exercise such a right code compliance programmes cannot be sustainable in the long term.