Home Governments Series - Overview of the Key International Standards

This Report reviews how select countries have implemented or endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and whether in doing so they have made specific references to extractive industries.

The Report also shows how the select countries have used the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to incentivise responsible business conduct of extractive companies operating abroad and compares the number of cases related to extractive industries that have been dealt with by OECD National Contact Points.

About this Report Series

This Report is the first in a series reviewing measures that ‘home governments’ (where companies are legally registered) can use to incentivise responsible business conduct of extractive companies operating abroad. ‘Host governments’ (where the company is operating) have the primary responsibility to regulate the activities of businesses operating in their territory. But where such regulation is lacking or not enforced, clear incentives set by their home governments can provide one of the few avenues for prompting responsible business conduct.

The examples provided in this report series can serve as models for policy makers charged with regulating the extractive or other sectors with similar footprints, provide civil society and other stakeholders with information about tools for promoting greater corporate accountability, and stimulate further debate on the efficiency and effectiveness of such measures.

Image: Flickr/Beyond Coal and Gas