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Submitting a specific instance

Anyone who is a stakeholder (an individual, NGO, trade union or other company) to an alleged breach of the OECD Guidelines by a multinational enterprise can submit a notification of this alleged breach at the NCP as a specific instance.

Preparing a notification

Ahead of submitting a notification of the alleged breach, any stakeholder can contact the NCP for advice. This can be a way of gaining a better understanding of how to proceed with the notification and what the potential notifier should do to prepare. This will enable the notifiers to consider their next steps. At this stage it may also be possible for the NCP to already facilitate contact between the parties involved to avoid a formal notification.
The Dutch NCP is able to process a specific instance either in the Dutch or English language.

Submitting a notification

A specific instance should be submitted to the NCP in the country where the alleged breach of the OECD Guidelines has occurred. If there is no NCP located in that country, the specific instance can be submitted in the country of the headquarters of the multinational enterprise involved.

In case of the Dutch NCP, a notification of a specific instance can be submitted (in English or Dutch) to the Secretariat of the NCP by mail or by using this form. It is important to be as complete as possible when submitting a notification and explain fully what the specific instance is about. The items that should be addressed in a notification, include:

  • information about the notifier(s)
  • information about the organization which is responsible for the alleged breach of the Guidelines in the notification
  • content of the specific instance: what is the alleged breach of the Guidelines, and what parts of the Guidelines does it relate to?
  • when relevant: information on parallel proceedings, such as a current court proceedings on (part of) the specific instance.

The specific instance will be assessed on a fixed set of criteria to determine whether further consideration of the NCP is warranted. You can read all about it in the procedure for submitting specific instances to the Netherlands NCP.

OECD Watch has published a guide which offers more information on how to submit a specific instance: Calling for Corporate Accountability: a guide to the 2011 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises