National Contact Points under OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: Institutional Diversity Affecting Assessments of the Delivery of Access to Remedy

The core theme of this chapter is the potential role of National Contact Points (NCPs) as accountability institutions. NCPs are state-based non-judicial remedy institutions in states that adhere to OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The UN highlighted NCPs as an important modality for providing accountability in The Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework (2008). Since the UNGPs do not have remedy institutions of their own, NCPs provide an important accountability modality for transnational economic activity and its societal impact. Each state has discretion in defining the institutional setup for its NCP. This results in a broad variety of, among others, compositions of NCPs, their organization and of degrees of independence from the government. Studies have indicated that the diversity of institutional setup of NCPs may affect their legitimacy with stakeholders, affecting the trust in NCPs as remedy institutions able to deliver accountability. However, it is also necessary to consider stakeholders’ expectations in regards to remedy, and the procedural as well as substantive aspects of remedy. Analyzing the institutional setup of NCPs against procedural and substantive aspects of “remedy”, specific cases, and statistics on home and host state-related specific instances, the chapter provides a critical analysis of the issues set out and recommendations for enhancing the remedial accountability provided by NCPs.