OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

rdf:langString OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

rdf:langString The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are recommendations on responsible business conduct addressed by governments to multinational enterprises operating in or from the 50 adhering countries. The Guidelines provide non-binding principles and standards for responsible business conduct in a global context that are consistent with applicable laws and internationally recognised standards. The Guidelines are legally non-binding, but the OECD Investment Committee and its Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct encourage implementation among adherents. The most concrete manifestation of government commitment to the principles set forth in the Guidelines are the National Contact Points (NCPs), which are offices charged with promoting observance of the Guidelines by multinational enterprises. Each of the 50 adhering countries are required to set up an NCP. Among other tasks, NCPs are charged with supporting a grievance mechanism called 'specific instances' — under this procedure, alleged non-observance of one or more of the Guidelines' recommendations is brought to the attention of an NCP, which then is responsible for helping the parties to find a resolution for the issues raised by providing access to consensual and non-adversarial procedures. Since the mediation procedure was invented in 2000, 450 specific instances have been handled covering such areas as employment and industrial relations (about half of the specific instances), environment, human rights and disclosure of information (the database on specific instances covers the 2000-2019 period). Originally, the Declaration and the Guidelines were adopted by the NP in 1976. The Guidelines were subsequently revised in 1979, 1982, 1984, 1991, 2000 and 2011.