Read the Final Statement published by the NCP on 5 May 2025: English
On 18 December 2024, Justice Beyond Borders and Justice for Iran (JBB/JFI), two NGOs, submitted a specific instance to the Canadian NCP alleging that Genetec, a privately-owned Canadian company specialising in security software, had not observed General Policies (Chapter II) and Human Rights (Chapter IV) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues concerned the alleged sale of Genetec’s “Security Center”, a surveillance platform, in the Islamic Republic of Iran through local partners, thereby allegedly indirectly enabling Iranian government entities to gain access to the Security Center through those local partners and, as a result, potentially negatively impact human rights.
Following an initial assessment, the NCP partially accepted the specific instance for further examination. The NCP did not accept issues concerning the alleged ongoing sale of Genetec products in Iran. The company categorically denied having business relationships with distributors in Iran and stated that any entities identified by the submitter were misrepresenting themselves as current providers of Genetec products in Iran. The NCP noted in this regard that it is not equipped to conduct a factual investigation into the alleged use of the software by Iranian government entities and cannot confirm or deny the claims.
The NCP did accept for further consideration the issue raised regarding the submitter’s approach to Chapter IV, paragraph 4 of the Guidelines (“have a publicly available policy commitment to respect human rights”).
As neither party sought a facilitated dialogue or mediation, the NCP did not make an offer of good offices and published its final statement on 5 May 2025.
The NCP issued the following recommendations to Genetec:
- Elaborate and clearly state its human rights policy in a singular publicly accessible document, referencing the OECD Guidelines on Human Rights (Chapter IV).
- Provide more detailed information on how it conducts human rights due diligence, including impact assessments and communication on mitigation measures.
The NCP will follow up on the recommendations six months after the date of publication of the final statement.