OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are a code of conduct for globally responsible corporate behavior and represent recommendations from governments to business. They are part of the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises , which also addresses questions about the investment climate and the promotion of Foreign investment dealt with.
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In ten chapters, the guiding principles give recommendations for responsible entrepreneurial behavior with regard to transparency , industrial relations, the environment , corruption , consumer protection , technology transfer , competition and taxes . They refer to international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO - core labor standards and emphasize the model of sustainable development and the precautionary principle .
Validity and control
The guiding principles are valid worldwide and are aimed at all transnational corporations whose headquarters are in a signatory country. So far, the guidelines have been signed by the 36 OECD countries and also by Egypt , Argentina , Brazil , Latvia , Lithuania , Peru and Romania .
By signing the guiding principles, each government undertakes to set up a National Contact Point (NCP). The contact points are intended to promote the implementation of the guiding principles and are primarily responsible for providing information on the guiding principles and for handling complaints. If a group violates the guidelines, a complaint can be made to the relevant contact point. This examines the matter and, if the complaint is accepted, initiates a mediation process. If this fails, the contact point must make a public statement and make recommendations on the application of the guiding principles. There are no further sanction mechanisms.
The contact point is to be located at a government instance, in practice usually a department in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The procedural instructions require the integration of all interested groups and make it possible to include representatives of business, workers' organizations and other interested parties in these bodies when composing the contact point. They also set four key criteria for the work of the contact points: visibility, accessibility, transparency and accountability.
In Germany, the national contact point is in the Ministry of Economic Affairs . So far, complaints and a. against Continental , TotalFinaElf , WestLB , Adidas , Ratiopharm , BP , HCStarck and two against Bayer and against KiK , C&A and Karl Rieker.
history
The OECD first adopted the guidelines in 1976. After the failed negotiations on a multilateral investment agreement (MAI) in 1998 , they were extensively revised and expanded with the participation of business associations, trade unions and NGOs. Since the revision of the guiding principles, there have been 130 complaints worldwide that have been brought forward by trade unions and NGOs. Trade unions mainly addressed conflicts in industrial relations, meanwhile mostly labor law violations in non-OECD countries. Most of the NGO complaints concern human rights violations, trade union issues and environmental crimes by companies in developing countries and often relate to supplier relationships.
Positive aspects and deficits
In comparison to other voluntary instruments for corporate social responsibility , it should be emphasized that the OECD guidelines are quite comprehensive and refer to some international agreements; they contribute to greater involvement of states in company regulation. The guiding principles are also addressed to all companies from the signatory states, even if the companies themselves have not explicitly committed themselves to the guiding principles. They are valid worldwide wherever companies from these countries operate and the responsibility for the suppliers is also recorded. It should be positively emphasized that there is a complaint mechanism, which is also relatively simple and can be used without financial risks or extensive legal expertise.
However, the disadvantage is that the guidelines are not legally binding, but are voluntary for companies. It is also to be assessed as disadvantageous that the OECD guidelines only refer to companies from the signatory countries and therefore do not cover a number of internationally active companies. The guidelines do not provide for any sanctions, and there is no revision mechanism in the event of a contentious complaint procedure. In addition, trade unions and NGOs in particular criticize inadequate implementation of the guiding principles: they mainly criticize their low level of awareness and the lack of transparency of the procedure - many contact points do not disclose the names of the companies against which a complaint has been made or reject complaints without complaint Giving reasons. The vague wording in some sections of the OECD Guidelines also means that violations cannot be clearly identified in some cases.
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- ^ The OECD - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ The guiding principles in the online lexicon of sustainability
- ↑ Uwe Kekeritz files an OECD complaint against KiK, C&A and Karl Rieker - Uwe Kekeritz. Retrieved on July 2, 2020 (German).
- ↑ OECD Report 2006 - Annual Meeting of the National Contact Points (PDF; 309 kB)
- ↑ List of union cases on oecdwatch.org (English) ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ List of NGO cases on oecdwatch.org (English) ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
Lothar Rieth: Global Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. What influence do the UN Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative and the OECD guidelines have on the CSR engagement of German companies? Budrich UniPress, Opladen 2009, ISBN 978-3940755315
See also
- Global Compact of the United Nations (UN)
- Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy by the International Labor Organization (ILO)