What is oecd guidelines

The purpose of the stocktaking is to take account of the key developments, achievements and challenges related to the Guidelines and their unique grievance mechanism the National Contact Points. The OECD has conducted a public consultation to ensure the stocktaking exercise benefits from views and experiences of all stakeholders. Based on this exercise, options to ensure the continued relevance and effectiveness of the Guidelines in advancing responsible business conduct will be explored.

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Stocktaking on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises The OECD Guidelines reflect the expectation from 50 governments to businesses on human rights, labour conditions, the environment, the prevention of bribery, consumer interests, as well as information disclosure, science and technology, competition, and taxation. Although enterprises are ultimately responsible for observing the Guidelines in their day-to-day operations, governments and stakeholders also have a vested interest in enhancing the Guidelines profile and effectiveness.

In addition, governments adhering to the Guidelines have specific obligations. The role of adhering countries - Governments adhering to the Guidelines are obliged to set up National Contact Points NCPs whose main role is to further the effectiveness of the Guidelines by undertaking promotional activities, handling enquiries, and contributing to the resolution of issues that arise from the alleged non-observance of the Guidelines in specific instances. The Guidelines are the only government-backed international instrument on responsible business conduct with a built-in grievance mechanism.

The specific instances mechanism requires NCPs to provide a platform for discussion and assistance to stakeholders to help find a resolution for issues arising from the alleged non-observance of the Guidelines. Adhering countries have flexibility in how they organise their NCPs as long as such arrangements provide an effective basis for dealing with the broad range of issues covered by the Guidelines and enable the NCP to operate in an impartial manner while maintaining an adequate level of accountability to the adhering government.

NCPs rely heavily on multi-stakeholder input and are committed to developing and maintaining relationships with representatives of the business community, worker organisations, NGOs and other interested parties that are able to contribute to the effective implementation of the Guidelines. The role of the Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct - The only inter-governmental body of this kind in the world, this working party of the OECD Investment Committee was inaugurated in with a mandate to assist in furthering the effectiveness of the Guidelines, fostering NCP functional equivalence, pursuing the proactive agenda , promoting engagement with non-adhering countries, partner organisations, and stakeholders, and serving as central point of information on the Guidelines.