Use of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises' Complaint Procedure

Introduction

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) “Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises” (Guidelines) embody what OECD governments have agreed are the basic components of responsible corporate conduct. They cover a range of issues such as labour and human rights, bribery and corruption, environment and information disclosure. All OECD member states (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States) and eight more countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia) are adhering the guidelines.

Though voluntary for companies, governments that have endorsed the Guidelines are essentially conveying that they expect multinational companies to follow these principles and standards of good conduct in their operations worldwide. As government adopted principles, the guidelines do not require an explicit endorsement by individual companies. Whether or not companies have individually endorsed the guidelines, they still may find their operations under scrutiny, as different to other voluntary codes, adhering governments are required to examine allegations of company misconduct. They do this through national contact points (NCP), publicly accountable government officers appointed in each member state. NGOs and others can request an examination and assessment of company behaviour in specific instances from these NCP. If a complaint is brought to the attention of an NCP, it has to make an assessment of whether the issue raised warrant further investigation. In warranted cases, the NCP then offers its good offices to bring the parties together to resolve the issue. If the parties agree, the NCP then offers conciliation or mediation to deal with the issue. If the parties don’t reach an agreement, the NCP releases a statement and makes recommendations on the implementation of the guidelines. The examination procedure is confidential, and the NCP must protect sensitive business and other information. The results of the procedure are made public, but only after consultation with the parties and only if preserving confidentiality is not in the best interest of effective implementation of the guidelines.

Over the past years NGOs have tried the use of the guidelines in many cases: as of November 2008, about 77 complaints had been filed by NGOs. The NGO’s experience with the NCP is that they deviate wildly in how they have handled NGO complaints and that many have been mishandled. But some cases have had positive outcomes. For example, in two recent complaints, the Australian and Finnish NCP recognised that the companies do indeed have human rights related responsibilities that had not been met and in the Case of First Quantum Minerals in Zambia a complaint resulted in concrete improvements for impacted communities.

OECD Watch is a network that serves to strengthen cooperation between civil society organisations worldwide, built capacity and promote a corporate accountability framework in the interest of sustainability and poverty eradication. OECD Watch was established with the primary aim to help facilitate NGO activities around the OECD Guidelines and the work of the OECD’s Investment Committee (IC). Using its vast experience with filing complaints, OECD Watch has prepared a guide covering the guidelines, their possible use and lessons learned from past NGO complaints. You can download the guide on the OECD Watch website.