Read the Initial Assessment published 1 August 2023: English
Read the Final Statement published 25 July 2024: English
On 16 March 2022, the Open Society Justice Initiative, an NGO involved in strategic human rights litigation and other legal work, submitted a specific instance to the Austrian NCP alleging that Telekom Austria AG, a subsidiary of Mexican telecommunications conglomerate América Móvil, and IT services company headquartered in Austria, had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Disclosure (Chapter III), and Human Rights (Chapter IV) provisions of the Guidelines.
The submission alleged that the company was involved in a series of state ordered and politically-motivated mobile internet shutdowns in Belarus during 9 August 2020 and 29 November 2020. The submitter argues that the company’s compliance with the state orders has led to severe human rights violations and was therefore in conflict with the Guidelines. The company states that it had to fulfil state orders and such orders had to be fulfilled within minutes and non-compliance would have had severe consequences. With regards to the alleged breaches of the Guidelines, the company states that, wherever possible, it upholds human rights and in cases where national legislation does not allow this, it takes all steps to mitigate negative effects on human rights.
On 1 August 2023, the NCP published an initial assessment deciding to accept the case for further examination. The NCP made an offer of good offices, which both parties accepted.
The NCP conducted three meetings with the parties, two of which were held in person. The good offices were forward-looking and the NCP observed a constructive and cooperative atmosphere. On 25 July 2024, the NCP published a final statement concluding the specific instance with agreement between the parties. Following mediation, the parties signed a confidential memorandum of understanding, which seeks to further the implementation of the Guidelines.
The NCP will follow up on the specific instance 18 months following the publication of the final statement.