OECD Watch is the official representative of civil society at the OECD Investment Committee.
OECD Watch brings civil society and community perspectives into policy debates at the OECD. For example, at the OECD’s Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, OECD Watch provided civil society input into both the 2023 and 2011 revisions of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines). These engagements led to stronger standards on human rights, value chain due diligence, environmental and climate impacts, and many other issues. We also ensured civil society perspectives informed the development of the 2018 OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the leading guidance explaining the due diligence provisions of the OECD Guidelines. At the larger Investment Committee, OECD Watch has, for example, advised work to sharpen initiatives to strengthen the sustainability of investment treaties and foreign direct investment.
OECD Watch also monitors and advocates for improved National Contact Point (NCP) performance and implementation of the OECD Guidelines. We push for improvements at individual NCPs as well as the NCP system as a whole. For example, in 2017 OECD Watch filed the first-ever substantiated submission to the Investment Committee arguing that the Australian NCP had not properly followed the OECD Guidelines in its handling of a case. Our submission helped lead to improvements in the Australian NCP’s rules of procedure and new guidance from the Investment Committee for all NCPs. We have subsequently engaged in other procedural and substantive appeals.
On targeted issues, such as accession and export credits, OECD Watch also engages with other OECD committees beyond the Investment Committee.