In September 2005, to mark the five-year anniversary of the revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (Guidelines), governments made a commitment to “enhance [their] value” and “reaffirmed their commitment to making them an even more useful instrument for promoting corporate social responsibility among multinational enterprises”. OECD Watch also marked the anniversary by producing its most comprehensive assessment of NCPs’ implementation to date, “Five Years On: A Review of the OECD Guidelines and National Contact Points” (NCPs).

The divergence in governments and civil society’s assessment of how effectively NCPs had implemented the Guidelines during the first five years could not have been starker. NCPs maintained that they took action on 72 out of 106 cases and “this action has contributed to a resolution of issues and to better understanding between the parties concerned”. In their statement, two of the earliest cases were cited as evidence of this successful action. OECD Watch, however, found non-governmental organisations’(NGO) confidence in the Guidelines had greatly declined and NCPs’ implementation to be fraught with problems. Of the 106 cases cited by NCPs, 45 were submitted by NGOs and of these, only seven had some positive outcomes.

This year, OECD Watch again invited NGOs to report on their experiences with the Guidelines and NCPs. We received responses from 16 countries, including Australia,Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ecuador, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Serbia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
On the positive side, NGOs have applauded how the Australian and Norwegian NCPs handled cases that involved sensitive human rights issues – both of which illustrate the growing recognition that companies do indeed have human rights responsibilities. In Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, multi-stakeholder consultations to examine how to improve implementation are also underway. However, many of the problems that were described at length in OECD Watch’s “Five Years On” report persist. The responses underscored the ongoing problems with cases being mishandled due in part to the lack of administrative procedures. In several cases, NGOs were treated unfairly and were not consulted properly. Respondents also provided feedback on whether they believed the Guidelines were still useful in changing the behaviour of companies.

For more information, contact one of the following OECD Watch coordinators:
Joris Oldenziel
SOMO-Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
Keizersgracht 132, 1015 CW Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: (31) (0)20 63 91 291
Fax: (31) (0)20 63 91 321
E-mail: j.oldenziel@somo.nl

Cornelia Heydenreich
Germanwatch
Vossstrasse 1, 10117 Berlin
Tel: (49) (0)30 2888 3564
Fax: (49) (0)30 2888 3561
E-mail: heydenreich@germanwatch.org
www.germanwatch.org