Read the Final Statement published by the NCP 8 September 2022: English
On 18 January 2021, the NGOs Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Christian Aid, ABColombia, Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz Kolumbien (ask!), the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), Centro de Investigación y Educación (CINEP), and Colectivo de Abogados ‘José Alvear Restrepo’ (CAJAR), submitted a specific instance to the Ireland NCP alleging that CMC Coal Marketing DAC, a Dublin-based firm set up exclusively to market coal produced in the Cerrejón mine in La Guajira, Colombia, had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Disclosure (Chapter III), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Environment (Chapter VI) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues relate to an alleged failure by the company to meet due diligence obligations relating to the sale of coal, an alleged failure to adequately disclose information on production of its merchandise, links to adverse impacts of a mine, and an alleged failure to institute a human rights policy.
At the time of submission, CMC Coal Marketing DAC was registered in Dublin, Ireland, and was fully and equally owned by three multinational enterprises: Anglo American plc, BHP Group Limited and Glencore International AG. The specific instance is linked to another case submitted to the Ireland NCP as well as cases submitted to the NCPs of Australia, Switzerland, and the UK.
During the initial assessment, the Ireland NCP was informed that CMC Coal Marketing DAC had become a 100% owned subsidiary of Glencore and subsequently novated its agency agreement with Cerrejón to Glencore and effectively ceased trading.
The NCP published a final statement on 8 September 2022 deciding not to accept the specific instance. The NCP determined that an offer of good offices could not contribute to the resolution of the issues raised as it would not be feasible to conduct mediation with a company which had ceased trading and was therefore no longer engaged in the activities that formed the basis for the complaint.