OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct Elects New Chair

 

10/10/2018 - The OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct (WPRBC) has designated Christine Kaufmann to serve as its new Chair.

 

Ms. Kaufmann is an international expert on responsible business conduct (RBC) having worked for over 20 years in different roles with business, governments, inter-governmental and civil society organisations. As professor of International, Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Zurich and founder of its Centre of Human Rights Studies, Ms. Kaufmann is a leading academic in Business and Human Rights, with specific expertise in the financial sector, trade law and international investment law. She also has in-depth experience with the OECD’s unique network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Responsible Business Conduct, and has served as co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Swiss NCP. Through her expertise in moderating multi-stakeholder roundtables, notably on the development of the Swiss RBC action plan, she is highly skilled to foster constructive solutions, which are broadly accepted by all stakeholders.

 

Ms. Kaufmann will lead the WPRBC in promoting the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive international instrument on responsible business conduct, covering all key areas of corporate responsibility. She will also guide the WPRBC in developing and promoting due diligence for responsible supply chains, and in supporting the network of NCPs, which provides access to State-based non-judicial remedy.

 

The WPRBC promotes RBC worldwide. It includes the 48 countries that have adhered to the Guidelines, namely the 36 OECD member countries, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Peru, Romania, Tunisia, Ukraine and the EU, and works closely with stakeholders from business, workers’ organisations and civil society.

 

Ms. Kaufmann replaces outgoing WPRBC Chair, Roel Nieuwenkamp who recently became the Dutch Ambassador to Argentina. She will start her new role as of 1 January 2019.

 

For further information, journalists are invited to contact Juliet Lawal, OECD Responsible Business Conduct Unit Communications Officer, telephone +33 1 45 24 97 40.

 

For more information on OECD’s work to promote and implement RBC, please visit http://mneguidelines.oecd.org.