As the OECD Forum is an important initiative in the Organisation’s increasing openness to civil society, we are offering you this copy of the new OECD civil society newsletter.  To receive it regularly you may sign up on www.oecd.org/oecddirect

 

 

OECD CIVSOC NEWSLETTER

 

Introduction

 

 

The Newsletter has been prepared by the Public Affairs Division of the OECD for the purpose of informing the public of OECD co-operation with civil society. The Public Affairs Division acts as a clearing house for information about OECD dialogue with civil society.  OECD staff who are in contact with civil society through consultations, workshops or other activities contribute to this newsletter. 

For further information about OECD cooperation with civil society, see the OECD civil society webpage:   www.oecd.org/civilsociety/ or contact

 

 

Meggan Dissly

Civil Society Liaison Manager

Public Affairs Division

Tel + 33 1 45 24 80 94

meggan.dissly@oecd.org

 

 

Meggan would be happy to get your feedback on this newsletter.

 

 

 

Contents

 

I.         OECD Watch (feature article): an active partner in implementing and monitoring the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

II.        Bulletin board – coming and recent OECD activities with civil society

III.       Selected reading  

Þ    OECD publications regarding civil society

Þ    Articles from the Nuclear Energy Agency

Þ    Civil society contributions to the OECD Observer magazine

 

 

 

I. OECD WATCH :  A Partner in implementing OECD Guidelines

 

The activities of the Investment Committee (IC) have inspired the creation in 2003 of its own civil society “umbrella” group of 66 civil society organisations, 24 of them based in non-OECD countries: “OECD Watch.”

 

OECD Watch grew out of the collaboration in 1999-2000 between the OECD and civil society in drafting revisions to the “OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises”, a voluntary code of conduct for international business with a distinctive government backed follow up mechanism.

  

The objective of OECD Watch is to inform the wider NGO community about the work of the CIME (now the Investment Committee), to ensure that a wide range of NGO views are represented in key debates at the Committee meetings and to assist NGOs who may wish to bring complaints under the OECD Guidelines’ implementation procedures.

 

A website created in February 2004 has useful information on the contents of the OECD Guidelines, the functioning of the National Contact Points for the OECD Guidelines, specific instances raised by non-governmental organisations and worldwide events.  The site is now available in English, French and Spanish.  "In just two years,” says Patricia Feeney, editor of the OECD Watch newsletter, “we have developed a strong network of NGOs committed to testing the Guidelines and have helped make them more visible.”

 

OECD Watch benefits from the support of the European Commission in a project that includes research and dissemination of information regarding the OECD Guidelines.  The Dutch Foreign Ministry has agreed to fund a four-year international programme of training and education on the OECD Guidelines.  The grant will facilitate training seminars and other work with NGOs in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

 

OECD Watch hopes to consolidate and expand its membership particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  “We are planning a multi-year programme of training workshops on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and seminars to introduce developing country NGOs to the work of the Investment Committee”, says Feeney. She believes that the Guidelines still have to prove their worth:  “We have to hold adhering governments to the commitment they made in June 2000 (when the revised Guidelines were adopted) and through engagement in the procedures ensure that the provisions are interpreted in a fair and balanced way.”

 

Recognising the valuable and increasingly complex contribution of civil society to its work, the IC is reflecting on ways to strengthen the relationship further. It recently took steps to expand further the scope of CSOs contributions to the IC's work, in areas such as investment protection, ODA/investment synergies and effective policy frameworks for investment in developing countries.

 

See also Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

 

 

II. Bulletin Board

 

The OECD is calling for comments from civil society on its draft text of "OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises" until 28 January 2005. See draft text

If you have any comments, please send them to OECD via e-mail: corporate.affairs@oecd.org.

 

 

Looking ahead – selected meetings with the participation of civil society

 

March

7-8      69th Meeting of the Committee on Consumer Policy (CCP), with the participation of representatives of civil society.

 

9          Paris, meeting of the OECD Task Force on SPAM, with the participation of civil society.  OECD set up a Task Force on Spam in July 2004.  The Task force met in October 2004, after organizing a Workshop in Busan (Korea) in September 2004 (see http://www.oecd.org/sti/spam).  Its second meeting on 9 March will be dedicated to reviewing progress in developing an anti-spam toolkit.  The toolkit includes a number of work elements aimed at finding solutions to eliminate spam.  It includes work on regulation, regular Investment technical measures, international enforcement co-operation, awareness and education.

 

31        OECD Social Forum on rights and responsibilities in delivering social protection. A one-half day civil society Social Forum will take place on 31 March 2005 at the OECD on the theme “What are the rights and responsibilities of different segments of society in delivering social protection?” The discussion with ministers, academics and representatives of civil society will focus on ways for government and CSOs to co-operate to improve the delivery of social services, the benefits and drawbacks of private finance and delivery of social protection, and the potential of workplace regulation to achieve social objectives.

 

April

 

11-15  (Marrakech, Morocco), meeting of the 7th INECE Conference/ OECD Global Forum on Sustainable Development on Environmental Enforcement and Compliance, with the participation of civil society.

 

19-20  Washington DC: Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress in the Global Marketplace The OECD will hold a workshop on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress in the Global Marketplace on 19-20 April in Washington, DC. The workshop will bring together experts from governments, business, consumer groups, and academia.  They will examine approaches to dispute resolution and redress mechanisms in OECD member countries and exchange views about their advantages and disadvantages, particularly in the cross‑border context. Organised by the OECD's Committee on Consumer Policy and hosted by the US government, the workshop is timed to coincide with the bi-annual meeting of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) in order to facilitate active participation by US and European consumer organisations. The workshop will be open to the press and the public, but will require advance registration and will be limited by available space. Further information will be made available on www.oecd.org/consumer-policy or may be obtained by contacting sarah.andrews@oecd.org

May

2-3     Paris - OECD Forum 2005, “Fuelling the Future: Security Stability, Development

The OECD Forum will take place this year on 2-3 May at the Centre de Conférences Internationales in Paris, under the heading, Fuelling the Future:  Security Stability, Development. The OECD Forum contributes to the open-ness of the OECD to civil society; enhances the visibility of the OECD's work; and constitutes a "multi-stakeholder consultation" for the annual meeting of OECD ministers. Themes for OECD Forum 2005 will include the world economy, trade and investment, energy, and development.  Keynote speakers will include Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson.

 

See the Forum 2005 website www.oecd.org/forum2005/ for more details of the programme and registration.

 

See also calendar of upcoming OECD events

 

Recent civil society meetings with the participation of the OECD

 

5-7 December 2004, Paris - Meeting of Bridge Initiative

The OECD participated for the second time in the annual meeting in Paris of the Bridge Initiative International (BI), http://www.bridge-initiative.org/, a newly created NGO that seeks areas of possible entente  between participants in the annual World Forum in Davos and those who attend the counter-movement at the World Social Forum in Porto-Alegre.  Discussion over the 3 days focused on global governance, the reform of the UN system, the Millennium Development Goals, the World Social Forum, and the effects of the war in Iraq on world affairs.  Despite the broad range of viewpoints, everyone agreed that having such a discussion with the different players in the room is a valuable exercise.

   

 

14-15 October 2004, Bangkok – One World Trust Workshop on Complaints and Redress

The OECD has been an active player in the One World Trust  (http://www.oneworldtrust.org/) global accountability project since it began three years ago in an attempt to develop indicators to measure accountability in trans-national corporations, non-governmental organisations and inter-governmental organisations.  A previous workshop narrowed down the definition of accountability to four tenets:  transparency, participation, evaluation and a system of complaints and redress.  The Bangkok workshop looked specifically at the complaints and redress mechanisms feature of accountability.

Participants at the Bangkok workshop included International Governmental Organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations and Trans-National Enterprises.  The Workshop examined the need for both internal and external complaints and redress mechanisms and discussed best practices.  

 

III. Selected Reading

 

        Publications

 Articles from the Nuclear Energy Agency

        NEA News:

     Shifting paradigms in managing radioactive waste   

     Government and Nuclear Energy

     Stakeholder Involvement Techniques

          Stakeholder Participation in Radiological Decision Making: Processes and Implications

          To order publications: OECD Online Bookshop


Civil Society Contributions to the OECD Observer Magazine

False economies: A global health crisis
by Brett Parris, World Vision Australia
©OECD Observer No 243, May 2004

        For further reading: Civil Society contributions to the OECD Observer magazine