[T]he presumably intentionally employed harsh language used [in the Interim Report] in qualifying the Norms [UN Norms on the Responsibility of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights] as “a distraction” being guided by “doctrinal excesses” is regrettable, because it – as shown above wrongly – could convey the impression that Ruggie has exclusively and definitely taken sides with most members of the business community in the ongoing controversial debate on the creation of international legal responsibilities for transnational corporations; a discussion in which the future fate of the Norms has evolved as a – to a large extent merely symbolic – but in the eyes of many NGOs and trade unions nevertheless very important issue. It is not too farfetched to predict that this impression has the potential to seriously damage the reputation of Ruggie as an impartial Special Representative on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations among many influential non-state actors belonging to the realms of civil society and labour...