Filing an NCP complaint
You can file a complaint under the OECD Guidelines against a company you feel has not met the Guidelines’ standards. While the Guidelines and complaint system are voluntary for companies, you have higher chances of achieving remedy and promoting better business conduct if you follow OECD Watch’s advice here, including on embedding your complaint in a broader strategy for justice.
The OECD Guidelines include a complaint system for victims of corporate harm. National Contact Points (NCPs) – the government offices that implement the Guidelines – are required to handle complaints against companies alleged not to have met the Guidelines’ standards. Part II of the OECD Guidelines (called the ‘Procedures’) sets out how NCPs should handle complaints (formally called ‘specific instances’). Through the complaint process, NCPs are expected to help resolve disputes between companies covered by the OECD Guidelines and people harmed by the companies’ business activities.
Civil society from around the world have used the NCP complaint process to fight social and environmental harms connected to corporate misconduct. Complaints sometimes (though not often) result in remedy for victims or prevention of harmful business activity. More often, they raise awareness and help encourage better business conduct in future. In OECD Watch’s experience, civil society that follow OECD Watch’s guidance and also embed their complaint in a larger strategy – seeking international collaboration with other NGOs; engaging the media, government allies, and investors; and even targeting higher legal or normative change where possible – have higher chances of success.
Before filing a complaint, communities and their representatives should consider whether an NCP complaint is the right tool to challenge the harm they are facing. We encourage civil society fighting corporate impacts to read our guidance on the stages of the NCP complaint process and our advice on whether and how to file a complaint.
Stages of an NCP complaint
After you have read the information on the stages of a complaint to a National Contact Point (NCP), we suggest you consider the following information on particular topics.
Other filing considerations:
NCP parallel proceedings
Transparency and campaigning
2011 or 2023 OECD Guidelines
Company responsibility for harm
Filing tools and resources
Short guide to the Guidelines
Our short guide to the Guidelines offers civil society a concise and accessible overview of the OECD Guidelines and how they can best be used to combat corporate harm.
Using the OECD Due Diligence Guidance
Our briefing highlights the strongest elements of the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct and explains how civil society can use them in advocacy.
Complaints factsheet
Get a practical overview of what the OECD Guidelines say about complaints. Available in:
English
Arabic
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Thai
Useful OECD documents
2011 version of the OECD Guidelines
The previous version of the OECD Guidelines that introduced human rights responsibilities and risk-based due diligence.
2023 version of the OECD Guidelines
The most recent update to the OECD Guidelines, outlining global standards for corporate accountability.
OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct
Provides a global framework for companies to identify and address adverse human rights, environmental, and other impacts across their value chains.
OECD sector-specific due diligence guidance
For the extractive sector, mineral supply chains, agricultural supply chains, garment supply chains, financial sector, and more topics