LEGALLY BINDING INSTRUMENT (LBI) ON TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS (TNCS) AND OTHER BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Human Rights Council in its twenty-sixth session held on 14.07.2014 adopted Resolution 26/9 for Elaboration of an international legally binding instrument (LBI) on transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises (OBEs) with respect to human rights. India voted in favour of the said resolution.

The following was decided as part of the Resolution:

I. An Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) On Transnational Corporations And Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights to be established to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises

II. That the first two sessions of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to be dedicated to conducting constructive deliberations on the content, scope, nature and form of the future international instrument

III. The Chairperson-Rapporteur of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to prepare elements for the draft legally binding instrument for substantive negotiations at the commencement of the third session of the working group on the subject, taking into consideration the discussions held at its first two sessions;

Accordingly the OEIGWG was established and the three sessions were held with the mandates as given under:

SESSION	DURATION	CHAIR-RAPPORTEUR	MANDATE
First	6th to 10th July 2015. Palais des Nations, Geneva	Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, Permanent Representative of Ecuador	To receive inputs from States and relevant stakeholders on possible principles, scope and elements and nature and form of internationally legally bindng instrument.
Second	24-28 October 2016 Palais des Nations, Geneva	Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, Permanent Representative of Ecuador	Continuation of deliberations taking into account discussions held during first session and informal consultations held during the intersessional period to allow Chairperson-Rapporteur to prepare elements for the draft instrument for substantive negotiations in the Third Session.
Third	23-27 October Palais des Nations, Geneva	Guillaume Long, Permanent Representative of Ecuador	Discussion on the elements for a draft legally binding instrument prepared by Chairperson-Rapporteur taking into consideration discussions held during first two sessions.
Fourth (To  be held)	15 to 19 October  2018 Palais des Nations, Geneva	-	To follow up on the implementation of mandate of resolution 26/9, taking into consideration the discussions held at the previous sessions of the OEIGWG.

During the third session the elements of a for a draft legally binding instrument prepared by Chairperson-Rapporteur based on deliberations during the first two sessions, as well as over 200 meetings held since 2014 involving multiple stakeholders was discussed. At the core of the elements was protection of victims of business-related human rights abuse, elimination of impunity and access to justice.

At the final meeting of its third session, OEIGWG requested the Chair-Rapporteur to undertake informal consultations as a complement to the ongoing bilateral consultations and other related activities with States and other relevant stakeholders on the way forward on elaboration of a legally binding instrument. Accordingly 4 open consultations were scheduled of which the fourth remains to be held on 11 July 2018 before the fourth session of the OEIGWG from 15 to 19 October, 2018.

A Zero Draft has since been prepared by Ecuador and presented on 19.07.2018 to serve as the basis for negotiations during the 4th session of OEIGWG.

The Zero Draft is available on the website of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGTransCorp/Pages/IGWGOnTNC.aspx.

The responses to the LBI be mailed to [email protected] by September 20, 2018.

Legally binding instrument on business and human rights seeks to ensure victim protection and access to justice through treaty negotiations. An Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group was established under Human Rights Council Resolution 26/9 to elaborate a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises addressing human rights. After three sessions and multiple consultations, draft elements stressing victim protection, elimination of impunity and access to justice were prepared, and Ecuador submitted a 'Zero Draft' on 19 July 2018 as the basis for negotiations; stakeholders were invited to submit responses by 20 September 2018.