"The State of Remedy under the OECD Guidelines: Understanding NCP cases concluded in 2018 through the lens of remedy", 12 Jun 2019

The year 2018 was not a good one for remedy under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (Guidelines). According to the OECD’s own 2018 Annual Report on the Guidelines, just four (36%) of the cases that went to mediation last year reached some kind of agreement. In the OECD’s words, this represented a “substantial decrease from 2017.” Only 11 out of the 34 National Contact Point (NCP) cases concluded in 2018 even made it to the stage of mediation in the first place, with the rest being rejected outright by NCPs. This means that just 9% of cases filed actually reached agreement. Nine percent is slim odds to justify the extensive time and energy required to file a complaint...Among the cases concluded in 2018, 12 were filed by communities or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with the rest being filed by unions, businesses, or individuals. Among these 12 NGO/community-led cases, only two (17%) resulted in some form of remedy for complainants...Why this low success rate? The reasons for the NCP system’s continued low rate of success in providing effective access to remedy can often be traced to the case handling procedures of some NCPs...Meeting [the report's] recommendations will ensure that NCPs meet the core criteria established in the Guidelines for all NCPs – visibility, accessibility, transparency and accountability – and the principles of impartiality, predictability, equitability and compatibility with the Guidelines for handling complaints.