The effects of business practices on human rights have become a central issue for human rights protection...The Guiding Principles have gained wide acceptance around the world. In Europe, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers welcomed the principles in a Declaration in 2014 and expressed strong support for their implementation by member states. On 2 March 2016, the Committee of Ministers adopted a detailed Recommendation on human rights and business. The Recommendation builds on the Guiding Principles and provides more specific guidance to assist European governments in preventing and remedying human rights violations by business enterprises while insisting on measures to induce business to respect human rights. It spells out the relevance of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter in this area. In particular, the Recommendation elaborates on access to judicial remedy drawing on Council of Europe expertise and legal standards in the fields of civil and criminal liability, reduction of judicial barriers, legal aid, and collective claims...Experience in the implementation of NAPs will provide valuable elements for on-going UN efforts to draft a legally binding human rights instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. It is likely that the instrument will take a long time to conclude but that should not discourage the active implementation of existing international and regional standards on business and human rights, also in the form of NAPs...