|
CCC Reference Guide on Code Implementation & Verification
Section 5. Code-Related Activities in a Global Context
OECD guidelines
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (the Guidelines) are
recommendations addressed by governments to multinational enterprises.
They provide voluntary principles and standards for responsible business
conduct consistent with applicable laws. The Guidelines aim to ensure
that the operations of these enterprises are in harmony with government
policies, to strengthen the basis of mutual confidence between enterprises
and the societies in which they operate, to help improve the foreign investment
climate and to enhance the contribution to sustainable development made
by multinational enterprises. The Guidelines are part of the OECD Declaration
on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises the other elements
of which relate to national treatment, conflicting requirements on enterprises,
and international investment incentives and disincentives.
Available Resources:
-
OECD
Guidelines: Useful for Workers' Rights?
From CCC Newsletter May 2006
-
For a critical review of the guidelines
see: FIVE
YEARS ON - A Review of the OECD Guidelines
and National Contact Points (2005
- OECD Watch)
-
A users guide to the guidelines is
produced by Friends of the Earth and
available online www.foe.org/oecdguidelines
-
OECD Watch
is an international network of civil
society organisations promoting corporate
accountability. The purpose of OECD
Watch is to inform the wider NGO community
about policies and activities of the
OECD's Investment Committee and to test
the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises. http://www.oecdwatch.org/
-
Oct 12, 2006 - Dutch
Clean Clothes Campaign and India Committee
of the Netherlands file OECD Guidelines
complaint against clothing retailer
G-Star.
The NGOs claim that G-Star has violated
the Guidelines in its business relations
with Indian suppliers Fibres and Fabrics
International and Jeans Knit Pvt. Ltd.
The complaint alleges violations of
workers' rights in the Indian factories
regarding freedom of association, the
right to collective bargaining, payment
of a living wage, discrimination in
employment, working hours, overtime
work, occupational health and safety,
punishment, abuse, harassment, and lack
of legally binding employment relations.
In addition, G-Star and its suppliers
have tried to silence Indian NGOs by
applying for a gag order. Read
the complaint >>
-
Sept 2004, Outcome
of OECD complaint case of German Clean
Clothes Campaign against adidas disappointing
We agreed to disagree - this is the
key conclusion drawn by the parties
involved in an OECD complaint case of
the German Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC)
on instances of labour rights violations
in two Indonesian supplier factories
of adidas. Yet, in spite of an overall
disappointing outcome of this case under
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Corporations, the German CCC considers
it to have been far from a useless exercise.
In the following, the CCC makes an assessment
of this case combined with proposals
for future action.
More info >>
-
TUAC published a "
A Users'Guide For Trade Unionists to
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises ", which can
be found at
http://www.tuac.org/publicat/guidelines-EN.pdf
-
Dec 2002, Outcome
of OECD complaint on adidas
More information regarding the outcome
of the complaint concering football
production for adidas that was filed
by the India Committee of the Netherlands
(ICN) under the OECD guidelines.
-
Sept 2002, Using
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises
A critical starterkit
for NGOs
To what extent can the OECD Guidelines
for multinationals be useful for NGOs
combating corporate misbehaviour? What
can you do when a company is polluting
the environment, not respecting human
rights, or otherwise neglecting the
rules spelled out in the OECD Guidelines?
-
July 2002, UNITE
files complaint with the OECD, charging
Bryland Inc. and Pinault-Printemps-Redoute
with violations of guidelines
-
May 2002, CCC Complaint against Adidas
and Nike at the National Contact Point
of the OECD-guidelines in Austria. The
complaint has been formaly accepted
by the Austrian NCP. It is based on
investigation published in the report:
We
Are Not Machines - March 2002
-
Feb 2002, The
Brussels-based International Textile,
Garment and Leather Workers' Federation
(ITGLWF) has lodged a complaint
with the OECD, accusing the Korean-owned
Choi Shin plants in Guatemala of serious
breaches of the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises.
-
June 2001, Dutch, German and UK companies
that import footballs from India are
in violation of the OECD guidelines.
LIW files complaint at Dutch NCP based
on investigation published in the report:
"The
Dark Side of Football - Child and
adult labour in India's football industry
and the role of FIFA".
-
More
on the OECD guidelines in:
Controlling corporate wrongs: the liability
of multinational corporations
* part 4 Approaches at the regional
level
|
