Advocacy to Improve the US OECD National Contact Point
After two years of advocacy by Accountability Counsel and partners, the U.S. Department of State has agreed to form a Stakeholder Advisory Board to “provide recommendations ... on implementation of the OECD Guidelines, including their public promotion, collaboration between the U.S. National Contact Point and stakeholders to anticipate and address future challenges in a proactive manner, and the operations of the U.S. NCP. The SAB is comprised of leaders from business, labor, civil society, and academia.” Accountability Counsel is a member of the new Stakeholder Advisory Board and we look forward to the first meeting in March 2012 in Washington, D.C.
The OECD Guidelines
In 
May 2011, adhering governments agreed to a new version of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The Guidelines were originally adopted in 1976, then revised in 2000. The Guidelines cover standards for corporate behavior in the areas of human rights, information disclosure, employment and industrial relations, sustainable development & environment, combating bribery, consumer interests, science and technology, competition and taxation. Our colleagues at OECD Watch have released a press release where you can learn more about what has changed in the new version of the Guidelines.
The Guidelines are promoted and compliance is encouraged through National Contact Points (NCPs). The US NCP is located in the Department of State within the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs.
Accountability Counsel’s Campaign to Reform the US OECD NCP
Accountability Counsel believes that the US NCP fails to meet its potential as a tool for addressing concerns from communities harmed by multinational corporations. The mechanism is little known, and complaints made are not fully or transparently addressed. This failure is a loss for all potential users of this mechanism (affected people around the world, labor unions, civil society groups and businesses) and is also problematic because the US NCP fails to meet even basic direction under the OECD Guidelines regarding how the NCP is to operate.
Accountability Counsel is working with a groundbreaking coalition of labor, human rights, environmental, academic, policy, and sustainable finance groups to improve the functioning of the US NCP. Our goal is to achieve positive reforms so that communities around the world will be able to use the US NCP as an effective tool for seeking accountability for US corporations’ non-compliance with the Guidelines.
History of the US OECD NCP Reform Effort
In September 2009, Accountability Counsel began direct dialogue with the State Department, urging transparency of their current practice to better understand and advocate for reforms that are needed in the NCP process. As a direct result of our efforts, the State Department committed to making the process used for addressing complaints through the NCP public for the first time. The day before a meeting with Accountability Counsel on April 22, 2010, the State Department published this brochure regarding how the NCP processes complaints. This is a positive step toward transparency and we will continue to work toward our goals in overall improvement of the mechanism.
In October 2009, we led a coalition of groups to submit a letter to Secretary of State Clinton urging reform of the US NCP. Along with the letter, we submitted a memo regarding key reforms required of the NCP in order for it to be a useful mechanism.
On April 15, 2010 as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review, Accountability Counsel submitted a report describing the urgency of OECD National Contact Point reform.
In 
September 2010, the State Department launched a public comment period for review of the US NCP. On October 12, 2010, Accountability Counsel submitted Comments to the US Department of State as part of the public comment period regarding reform of the US NCP. Our comments were referenced and endorsed in comments submitted by EarthRights International, the Center for American Progress, Human Rights Advocates, Amazon Watch, among others. We also authored and submitted Joint Civil Society Comments on November 5, 2010 that were joined by fourteen organizations and individuals.
Also in September 2010, Accountability Counsel was appointed to the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP), Investment Subcommittee. This Subcommittee advised the State Department on reform of the US NCP through a January 12, 2011 Report.
June 2011 Release of New Rules of Procedure: The Campaign Continues
On
June 21st, the State Department published revised Rules of Procedures governing the US NCP. While there are advances with regard to timelines and the issue of parallel proceedings, in other respects, the procedures represent a failure to consider the overwhelming consensus in comments from civil society on most issues and even take a step backward with regard to transparency. On June 23, 2011, Accountability Counsel’s Executive Director Natalie Bridgeman Fields met with Assistant Secretary of State Fernandez and other interested members of the government, civil society and business to discuss the outcomes of the review process. Accountability Counsel presented a letter to Assistant Secretary Fernandez endorsed by 10 other civil society organizations expressing concern about the new Rules of Procedure. We also presented a detailed Annex to the letter that analyzes the deficiencies in the new Rules.
On July 23, 2011, we authored a civil society letter to Assistant Secretary Fernandez detailing our suggestions for creation of an Advisory Board. We received this letter in response.
We are continuing our engagement with the State Department and believe that further changes are necessary for the US NCP to effectively lead the way to address community concerns with violations of the OECD Guidelines.
Accountability Counsel NCP Reform Partners
We thank the following partners for supporting and participating in the effort to reform the US OECD NCP:
Atossa Soltani
Amazon Watch
USA
Morton Emanuel Winston
Amnesty International USA / Business and Human Rights
USA
Chip Pitts
Lecturer, Stanford Law School
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
USA
Paul Donowitz
EarthRights International
USA
Anne Perrault
Center for International Environmental Law
USA
Kate Watters
Crude Accountability
USA
R. Sreedhar
Environics Trust
mines minerals & PEOPLE
India
Lewis Gordon
Environmental Defender Law Center
USA
Honore Ndoumbe Nkotto
FOCARFE
Cameroon
Michelle Chan
Friends of the Earth
USA
Paul de Clerck
Friends of the Earth
Europe
Joanna Levitt
International Accountability Project
USA
Brian Campbell
International Labor Rights Forum
USA
Peter Bosshard
International Rivers
USA
Doug Norlen
Pacific Environment
USA
Bill Barclay
Rainforest Action Network
USA
Karen Kwok
Student, University of California Berkeley
USA
For live debate about the US NCP and the other NCPs around the world, Accountability Counsel has encouraged dialogue on the Baseswiki site, a project of the Harvard Kennedy School.
Accountability Counsel is a member of OECD Watch, an organization focused on review of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
*Materials on this website have been prepared by Accountability Counsel for informational purposes only and do not constitute advertising, a solicitation, or legal advice. Transmission of the materials and information contained herein is not intended to create, and receipt thereof does not constitute formation of, an attorney-client relationship.
phone: 1.415.296.6761
email: info@accountabilitycounsel.org
address: 8 California Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, California, 94111, USA
Accountability Counsel plays a leading role in the effort to improve the US government’s corporate accountability mechanism related to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise: the US National Contact Point (US NCP). The US NCP remains one of the few avenues for communities around the world harmed by US corporations to seek accountability for that harm, and for communities based in the US to seek accountability based on the conduct of foreign corporations. Despite the importance of the US NCP, key reforms are required before the mechanism can be seen as a transparent, independent and effective office for addressing violations of the OECD Guidelines. While we have achieved reforms of the US NCP’s rules of procedures over the past two years, much work remains to be done.
