Switzerland – OECD

2 National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights 2020-23

2.1 Pillar 1: state duty to protect

 

2.1.3 The State-business nexus

Guiding Principles 4 to 5

Measure 11: Human rights due diligence by public-private development partnerships

The federal government also ensures that it does not enter into any public-private development partnerships with business enterprises which refuse to cooperate with the National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

 

2.3 Pillar 3: access to remedy

2.3.3 Operational principles: state non-judicial grievance mechanisms

Guiding Principle 27

Measure 33: Visibility of non-judicial grievance mechanisms

Switzerland already has several state and non-state non-judicial grievance mechanisms in place, such as the National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and ombudsman services. However, the role they play and the work they carry out are not well known. The Federal Council wishes to increase the visibility of non-judicial individual and collective redress mechanisms.

 

Measure 34: National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises include a chapter on human rights. The 48 signatories to the OECD guidelines are required to set up a non-judicial grievance mechanism in the form of a National Contact Point (NCP) to receive and handle complaints regarding the application of the OECD Guidelines. They also serve as an important non-judicial grievance mechanism for business-related human rights abuses.

Measure 5 of the 2020–23 CSR Action Plan deals with the NCP in detail. As well as providing a mediation platform, the NCP should clearly position itself as a point of contact for the prevention of problems in connection with responsible business conduct (e.g. by having a social media presence and participating in stakeholder events).

Objective	Indicator	Responsibility
Strengthen the position of the NCP as a point of contact for the prevention of problems in connection with responsible business conduct.	Evaluation of NCP activities (source: NCP annual report to the OECD and annual report of the NCP Advisory Board).	EAER [Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research].