Time for Governments and the OECD to #StepItUp

2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. For this occasion, OECD Watch has published a new publication and is calling on the OECD and its adhering governments to step it up with measures to ensure that businesses respect the Guidelines and recommended actions towards strengthening and improving their National Contact Points.

Recently OECD Watch published A “4×10” plan for why and how to unlock the potential of the OECD Guidelines(opens in new window) ; it’s a “4 x 10” bullet-point plan highlighting four key features that outline the Guidelines potential to help ensure responsible business practice. It also includes ten actions that governments must take to unlock that potential and to advance their legally binding obligation to further the effectiveness of the Guidelines. Earlier in June, OECD Watch’s Coordination Committee travelled to Paris to share this “4×10” during consultations with policy-makers and NCPs at the OECD, as well to join the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct at the OECD.

Ranking NCP Performance

In Paris, OECD Watch and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) presented a draft paper entitled How would You Measure NCP Performance?(opens in new window) , to begin consultations with NCPs over a new ranking excercise.The aim of this index is to change the status quo by creating pressure for positive change by examining the performance of each of the NCPs. TUAC and OECD Watch welcome all feedback on the draft index by 1 August 2016, which can be sent to: tuac@tuac.org or info@oecdwatch.org. The final Index will be published at the November 2016 meeting of the OECD National Contact Points.

40-day Twitter Count-up

In May, TUAC and OECD Watch started a 40-day Twitter count-up campaign(opens in new window) to mark the 40th anniversary of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and are calling on governments and the OECD to step up measures to ensure businesses respect the Guidelines, so that the Guidelines fulfil their potential to defend communities’ and workers’ rights and highlight the fact that too many NCPs are still failing to meet their responsibility.

“Governments need to step it up if NCPs are to provide victims with remedies for harms from corporate abuses and to bring about changes in corporate behaviour,” said Joseph Wilde-Ramsing of OECD Watch.

Follow the tweets at @OECDwatch.