In October 2011 the European Commission asked member states to draft National Action Plans for the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The German government has remained largely inactive in this respect. The CorA Network for Corporate Accountability and the German Forum on Human Rights have therefore compiled civil society’s expectations of a national action plan in a comprehensive position paper...Our expectations of the German action plan and the implementation process: [1] The State duty to protect human rights: Human rights-based regulation of corporate conduct; Tying the State-business nexus to human rights standards; Ensuring business respect for human rights in conflict-affected areas; Ensuring human rights coherence in international agreements and organisations [2] The corporate responsibility to respect human rights [3] The obligation to provide effective remedy and grievance mechanisms Strengthening State-based judicial mechanisms; Making State-based non-judicial mechanisms more effective; Making non-State-based grievance mechanisms more effective