WRITTEN QUESTION E-0937/02 by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Contact points for OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.
Date: 2002-04-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Commission Delegation, Community budget, EU expenditure, OECD, budget, information centre

C 301 E/70

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

(2002/C 301 E/075)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0937/02

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(9 April 2002)

Subject: Contact points for OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises

For the budget lines B7-300, B7-310 and B7-320 (Financial and technical cooperation with Asian and
Latin American developing countries and with the countries of Southern Africa, including South Africa)
the following remark has been adopted in the 2002 budget:

It also covers the creation and operation of contact points for the OECD guidelines for multinational
enterprises in the EU delegations of those countries where European companies operate.

In the EU delegations of which countries does the Commission intend to start with these contact points
and when will they begin to function?

By which means will the EU or the EU delegation make their existence known in each of the countries
concerned, and what are the intended activities for these contact points?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(28 May 2002)

The Commission intends designating a ‘correspondent’ (1) for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) guidelines in each of its Delegations.

the Commission intends to make the Delegations aware of

the importance of
With this in mind,
promoting the OECD guidelines in contacts with the authorities of
the countries concerned, with
companies established there or planning investment and with civil society at large. An opportunity to do
this will be the annual training seminar for the Delegations to be held at the beginning of July.

Initially, a trade adviser (within each Delegation having one) (2) will designated correspondent; they will
have the double role of giving out information and promoting the guidelines. For the record, these cover
all areas of a company’s social responsibility, namely child labour and forced labour, relations with the
workforce, environmental protection, consumer protection, transparency and communication information,
the fight against corruption, technology transfers, competition and taxation.

In a second phase, correspondents will be appointed in all the other Delegations.
Delegations will work in close cooperation with the Commission.

In this area the

(1) The term ‘contact point’ or ‘national contact point’ is reserved for States party to the OECD or countries adhering to
the Declaration relating to the guidelines for multinational enterprises. The Commission, though playing a central
role in the OECD and in implementing the guidelines, is not strictly speaking a ‘national contact point’ and so the
term ‘correspondent’ is more appropriate.

(2) The Delegations having a trade adviser are: South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Korea,
Egypt, the United States, Geneva, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, Mexico,
Nigeria, Paris, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Tanzania, Czech Republic, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay and
Vietnam.

(2002/C 301 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0943/02

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 April 2002)

Subject: Road building

There have been reports in the media that, as part of a project to build a new road close to the seafront in
the Parish of Jardim do Mar, the Madeira Regional Government is planning to erect a wall that will jut out
at the point where the waves break.