Welcome to the website of OECD Watch
Welcome to the website of OECD Watch

OECD Watch is an international network of civil society organisations promoting corporate accountability. The purpose of OECD Watch is to inform the wider NGO community about policies and activities of the OECD's Investment Committee and to test the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

What's New?

1 April 2008:
OECD Watch's April 2008 Newsletter is now available! This newsletter includes:
• Gurría’s  OECD – A  Hub or Club?
• The Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative
• Responsible Business Conduct in China
• OECD Guidelines do apply to Banks and Financial Institutions 
• Iraq Oil-for-Food Complaint rejected: German NCP misses Opportunity for Reinforcing Anti-Bribery Message
• Conference on the OECD Guidelines and EITI in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo
• OECD Watch and Eurosif discuss OECD Guidelines’ Usefulness for Socially Responsible Investors
• Indian Government withholds clearance for OECD Watch inter-regional seminar
• OECD Watch organises multi-stakeholder debate on improving the OECD Guidelines
• New OECD Watch members
The Newsletter is available in English, French or Spanish.

1 April 2008: The
Spring 2008 Quarterly Case Update is available. This edition includes the following new OECD Guidelines cases filed by NGOs:
• GRESEA and Transparency International Germany file third case against Ratiopharm (NCP Belgium)
• Parliamentarian and lawyer file case against Accor Service in Argentina (NCP Argentina)
• Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand files second case against ANZ Bank; NZ NCP rejects
• Korean and Philippine unions and NGOs file case against Korean textile companies' for labour abuses in the Philippines (NCP Korea)
• Colombian lawyers file case against BHP Billiton for coal mine operations in Colombia (NCP Australia)
Plus updates on other pending and recently concluded cases.

8 December 2007: OECD Watch and Eurosif complete Fact Sheet series for Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) agencies.
The series of four fact sheets is aimed at helping SRI agencies understand and use the OECD Guidelines. Please click on the links below to download the fact sheets.

  • SRI Fact Sheet 1 provides an introduction to how the SRI community can use the OECD Guidelines
  • SRI Fact Sheet 2 outlines the relevant content of the Guidelines' 10 chapters.
  • SRI Fact Sheet 3 examines the human rights provisions of the OECD Guidelines and their relevance to the SRI community
  • SRI Fact Sheet 4 explains the content and relevance of the OECD Guidelines provision on supply chains to the assessment of corporate practices.

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).

4 October 2007: OECD Watch´s new briefing "
Model National Contact Point" (released today) makes recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines, one of the few corporate accountability instruments currently available. The recommendations are based on the findings from extensive consultations among government officials, trade unions, business representatives and NGOs in 20 OECD countries. Almost none of the countries surveyed had properly functioning bodies to deal with complaints about violations of the OECD Guidelines. For more information, read the Model NCP and the press release.

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. 

New Case: WAC_vs_Chongwon_Complaint

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

15 June 2007: Read the
Conference Report from OECD Watch multi-stakeholder conference on the OECD Guidelines. The roundtable, entitiled “A Model for Change: Upward Harmonisation of OECD Guidelines Procedures”, took place on June 15th, 2007, in Brussels, Belgium. The Roundtable aims to discuss best practices in the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and to promote the exchange of experiences between stakeholders in EU Member States on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

10 June 2007: OECD Watch's Quarterly Case Update Summer 2007 is now available.

June 6, 2007: New Case: 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, press release (English), and Pressemitteilung (Deutsch).

May 7, 2007: New Case: 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

OECD Watch's April 2007 Newsletter and Quarterly Case Update are now available!

The Newsletter is available in English, French or Spanish.
The Quarterly Case Update is available in English and Spanish.

April 25, 2007: New Case: 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)

OECD Watch Guide to the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises' Complaint Procedure: Lessons from Past NGO Complaints
This Guide is designed to assist NGOs considering raising a complaint against a company for a violation of the OECD Guidelines. The Guide is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

For the latest news regarding OECD Guidelines cases, visit: Case News

For more news, please visit the
News section.


Other Areas of Interest on this Website

To learn more about OECD Watch, please see 'Who is OECD Watch?'

To learn more about the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, see 'What is the OECD?'

To find out more about the National Contact Points (NCPs) and their contact addresses in each country, see 'What are NCPs?'

To learn more about the Trade Union Advisory Council to the OECD (TUAC), see 'What is TUAC?'.

To find out more about the Business and Industry Advisory Council to the OECD (BIAC), see 'What is BIAC?'.

Updated 3 October 2007 | JW