OECD Case Law
Corporate Human Rights Responsibility in the OECD NCP case law
The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2022 to 2025, and it analyses the interpretation and illustration of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights through the specific cases handled by the National Contact Points (NCPs) under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The project will examine the OECD case law relating to corporate human rights responsibility to draw a better understanding of the NCPs decisions on meeting the human rights requirements, including the corporate human rights due diligence (HRDD) and access to remedy illustrated under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). In addition, it will investigate the role of NCPs in contribution to the development of the international legal requirements that multinational enterprises are expected to follow to respect human rights in their operations. For this reason, the project will apply doctrinal analysis as well as empirical legal research methods and composed of following research clusters:
Examination of NCP decisions
The applicable decisions by the NCPs will be critically analysed to focus on how corporate responsibility, HRDD, and the access to remedy are interpreted, how companies are encouraged and what is expected from the companies by the NCPs. Also within the scope of the project lies the question whether the assessment and analysis of the NCPs on these issues are consistent and coherent with each other. Therefore, a case database will be created to categorise the NCPs’ decisions.
Analysis of NCP procedures
We also focus on how different NCPs handle their cases, by looking at different factors, specifically the NCPs’ merits on the investigation and the mediation, their impartiality in decision making, engagement with external actors and experts, and dialogues with the relevant stakeholders.
Interviews with complainants, respondents, and NCP officials
The project also includes interviews with complainants, respondents, NCP officials, professionals and experts, specifically, the professionals who work for relevant NCPs, to further understand the NCPs‘ assessment and analysis on the corporate human rights responsibility when it comes to resolve the cases with allegations of corporate human rights abuses.