The Centre for Ethics and Law commemorated the 40th anniversary of the OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises with a highly engaging discussion by Prof. Dr. Roel Nieuwenkamp, Chair of the OECD working party on responsible business conduct. The seminar was the second of two business and human rights events hosted by the CEL, the first being the workshop on Business and Human Rights Reporting held on 19 April.
Professor Roel Nieuwenkamp discussed the development of the OECD Guidelines over the last 40 years. He explored their role as a comprehensive international standard on responsible business conduct and their coherence with both the ILO labour standards and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Professor Nieuwenkamp highlighted the importance of the National Contacts Points (‘NCP’) as a unique, state based, but non-judicial, mechanism for solving Guideline disputes and the impact of NCP determinations on the conduct of both multinationals and their investors.
The talk was attended by a very active and participatory audience of professionals, academics and members of industry. The event showed the importance of cross-disciplinary dialogue on ethics, law and business, where participants can share experiences and insights in an open forum.