Recent Developments in OECD Guidelines Cases

28 November 2007: New Case - Accor Service's bribes to retain business in Argentina. An Argentine member of parliament and his lawyer alledge that the French company offered bribes to retain food services business in Argentina. For more information, please see the case summary (in English) and the full complaint (in Spanish).

1 October 2007: New Case: ANZ Bank's facilitation of illegal and destructive forestry in Papua New Guinea. Read the press release and the complaint, which was filed by the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

26 June 2007: New Case: BPH Billiton's forced evictions at a coal mine in Colombia. Read the press release.

June 6, 2007: Transparency International files OECD Guidelines complaint against 57 German Companies over UN Oil for Food Scandal in Iraq. The complaint, submitted to the German NCP, alleges that the companies, including DaimlerChrystler and Siemens, have violated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by allegedly paying US$11.9 m in ‘kickbacks’. For more information, read the complaint, complaint summary, list of companies, press release (English), and Pressemitteilung (Deutsch).

May 7, 2007: Germanwatch files OECD Guidelines complaint against Volkswagen. The complaint, which is based on 15 concrete cases, alleges that VW's climate-damaging product range and business strategy are a violation of the OECD Guidelines. For more information, read the complaint in English or Deutsch, the background paper in English or Deutsch and the press release in English or Deutsch. 

April 25, 2007: Peruvian unions and NGOs file OECD Guidelines complaint against Grupo Altas Cumbres (Chile) for violation of labour rights in Peru. The complaint concerns Banco del Trabajo, a Peruvian bank and financial services company, for alledgedly anti-union policies, of denying its workers the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association, and of unjustly firing union leaders. Because Banco del Trabajo is a subsidiary of Grupo Altas Cumbres, the complaint was lodged with the Chilean NCP. For more information, see the complaint (Spanish) and a related complaint to the ILO (English). 

March 21, German NCP still refuses to consider the Ratiopharm case. Read this short article or longer version by Transparency International, about its difficult dealings with the German NCP and the inconsistent practises of all NCPs.

February 21, Global Witness files OECD Guidelines case against Afrimex. Global Witness believes that Afrimex’s trade in minerals contributed directly to the brutal conflict and large-scale human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), read the press release in English and French. Find out more here

February 1, 2007: Clean Clothes Campaign Still Opposing FFI. On Thursday January 11 2007, the CCC received a letter from Pramila Associates Advocates on behalf of their client Fibres and Fabrics International (FFI) threatening CCC with court proceedings should they not refrain from reporting on the labour conditions at FFI. Find out more about the CCC’s campaign against G Star here

December 22, 2007: Finnish NCP declares that Botnia has complied with the OECD Guidelines in Uruguay. The NCP issued a statement and a press release. Following the NCP's statements, CEDHA filed complaints to the Finnish Government Ombudsman (press release English) and the OECD Investment Committee (press release english)  against the Finnish NCP stating that they have failed in their task and rejected the case illegally.

November 17, 2006: Swedish NCP Accepts Complaint Against Nordea.  The Swedish NCP (answering also on behalf of the Norwegian NCP) accepted a complaint filed by CEDHA (of Argentina) and Bellona (of Norway) against Nordea, a leading financial services group of the Nordic and Baltic Sea area, which was set to provide Botnia with a multi-million dollar package to finance the controversial investment in Uruguay. Read the NCP letter and press release.

October 26, 2006: Australian NCP rejects ANZ Bank case. In the NCP's statement, it claimed that there was a lack of an investment nexus between ANZ and logging companies engaged in human rights abuses and environmental destruction in Papua New Guinea. The NGOs strongly disagree with the NCP's interpretation of the investment nexus, as outlined in the NGOs' supplimentary submission on investment nexus. For more information, please read the the complaint filed by the NGOs and the accompanying press release.

October 12, 2006: Dutch Clean Clothes Campaign and India Committee of the Netherlands file OECD Guidelines complaint against clothing retailer G-Star. The NGOs claim that G-Star has violated the Guidelines in its business relations with Indian suppliers Fibres and Fabrics International and Jeans Knit Pvt. Ltd. The complaint alleges violations of workers' rights in the Indian factories regarding freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, payment of a living wage, discrimination in employment, working hours, overtime work, occupational health and safety, punishment, abuse, harassment, and lack of legally binding employment relations. In addition, G-Star and its suppliers have tried to silence Indian NGOs by applying for a gag order. Click here to read the complaint.

October 3, 2006: IUF Files OECD Guidelines complaint against Unilever in UK and Netherlands. The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association has filed a complaint at the Dutch and UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines against the Anglo-Dutch TNC Unilever for labour rights violations in India. Read the press release in English, español or français or read the full complaint.

August 31, 2006: Finnish NCP holds meeting on the Argentina-Uruguay paper mills case. Present at the meeting were NGO complainant CEDHA, along with representatives from Botnia and Finnvera and the Swedish and Norwegian NCPs.

June 26, 2006: New cases: CEDHA (Argentina) submits specific instance against Finnvera plc (Finland) and Nordea (Sweden/Norway) for breaching the OECD Guidelines. After submitting an OECD complaint against Botnia in April 2006, CEDHA also submits a specific instance against Finnvera and Nordea for publicly supporting the Botnia project. For more information, please see the Finnvera complaint and press release and the Nordea complaint and press release

June 8, 2006: NCP accepts OECD complaint against Botnia. During the course of the OECD meeting of NCPs in Paris, the Finnish NCP met with CEDHA. The NCP informed that they had reviewed the Specific Instance filed by CEDHA against Botnia last April. For more information, please see the press release. On the same day Argentina and Uruguay made oral presentations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the two controversial papermills currently under construction on the Argentine-Uruguayan border. For more information, see the press release.

For more information on cases, view OECD Watch's database of OECD Guidelines cases raised by civil society organizations at National Contact Points. OECD Watch members, go to the Case database. Non-OECD Watch members, please visit the section for publicly-available information on the cases.