On March 9, the Kazakhstan office of the National Contact Centre of Institute of Economic Research JSC (ERI) took part in a meeting of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct. The meeting was chaired by Christine Kaufmann, Chair of the Working Party, and Allan Jorgensen, Head of the OECD Centre for Responsible Business.

The first part of the meeting was devoted to the Action Plan for Strengthening National Contact Centers (NCC) for 2022-2024, which is structured around four large-scale goals: expert analyses, visibility and trust, the effectiveness of dispute resolution, expertise and regional networking, corresponding to the areas in which measures need to be taken to ensure the functional equivalence of the NCC. For each goal, the plan defines specific actions to be taken by a network of national contact centres with the support of the OECD Secretariat.

In the second part of the meeting, the National Contact Centres presented reports on the results of the OECD expert assessment. In particular, the NCC of Australia, Ireland and Sweden presented their reports.

For example, Sweden was recommended to consider ways to ensure greater visibility, accessibility and transparency of the NCC by formalizing its structure, location, mandate and membership, as well as clarifying the role of the Chair and the secretariat of the NCC in an official document.

Australia was recommended to consider ways to ensure greater stability and authority of the NCC by formalizing its structure in a legal or administrative document, Irelandwas recommended to consider ways to increase the authority of the NCC by formalizing its role and structure in an official document.

Christine Kaufmann highlighted the variety of examples of promoting the NCC of Kazakhstan that Sweden can use in the future.

After the exchange of experience, a discussion was initiated with all participants of the working session on the analysis of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The delegates were divided into breakout sessions and discussed possible options for their further promotion, such as training, seminars, research or the development of tools (articles, databases, and so on).

At the end of the event, the participants expressed gratitude for the effective discussions during the meeting of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, recognized that the creation and development of a network of links among all NCC in the world will contribute to their development, and noted that in a year the delegates will return to discussing the results already achieved.

Detailed information about the National Contact Centre of Kazakhstan can be found following the link

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The NCC is a collegial advisory body that makes decisions on complaints under consideration about violations of the provisions of the Guidelines of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for Multinational Enterprises (hereinafter - the OECD Guidelines), including on information disclosure, human rights, labor and industrial relations, combating bribery, bribery and extortion, environmental protection, consumer interests, science and technology, competition and taxation. 

The NCC in Kazakhstan was established in 2020 by order of the Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The functions of the NCC Secretariat in the Republic of Kazakhstan are performed by Institute of Economic Research JSC.