F.A.Q.
What are the OECD Guidelines?
The OECD guidelines for multinational companies are a set of principles designed to ensure that multinational companies operate in a manner consistent with public policy, strengthen the foundations of mutual trust between enterprises and society, improve the investment climate, and enhance the contribution of multinational enterprises to sustainable development.
What standards are contained in the Guidelines?
The Guidelines set out principles and standards in a wide variety of areas, such as:
What is a multinational enterprise?
A multinational enterprise operates in all sectors of the economy. Multinational companies are referred to as companies or other business entities that are established in more than one country and are linked in such a way that they can coordinate their activities in different ways. The form of ownership can be private, public, or mixed.
Who developed the OECD guidelines?
The guidelines are developed by the OECD and agreed at the multilateral level. Currently, the OECD Guidelines are distributed in
50
countries:
38
OECD member countries and 12 non-members. Governments that have acceded to the Guidelines are committed to implementing them.
Do the Guidelines apply to business partners?
Yes The Guidelines are applied by multinational companies regardless of their form of ownership (state, public or private) or sector. However, the Guidelines apply to the full range of business relationships of multinational companies: subsidiaries, suppliers, subcontractors, licensees, and other business partners. This significantly expands scope of responsibility of multinational companies and encourages business partners to apply appropriate methods.
Are there any advantages in implementing the Guidelines?
Multinational enterprises have a strong business incentive to do business responsibly. Responsible Business Practices are an effective way to manage risks, diversify portfolios, and increase productivity. For example, practice of implementing green production can significantly reduce the overall cost and practice of effective human resource management in the supply chain can contribute to productivity and brand protection. Responsible business management involves respecting the rights of stakeholders, creating new values, and protecting existing values through risk and reputation management.
What is an NCP?
The National Contact Point is a collegial, voluntary, non-judicial mechanism for addressing public complaints about businesses that violate responsible business principles in accordance with the OECD Guidelines.
Who can apply to the NCP?
Any individual or legal entity affected by the activities of a multinational enterprise, including employees or a group of employees of a multinational enterprise, persons or a group of non-employees, trade unions, non-governmenta.organizations can apply to the NCP for an action or omission of a multinational company regarding an alleged violation of the OECD Guidelines.
How long does it take to review applications to the NCP?
The process of reviewing appeals to the NCP takes from 10 to 12 months and consists of three stages:
How does the NCP differ from court or other instances?
The NCP guarantees that the application will be considered immediately (no more than within a year) and completely free of charge. Since it is a collegial advisory body, the case is considered faster, without going through numerous instances.
