3 - State-Owned Entities and Norm Development in International Law

Summary

Chapter three examines several selected instruments created to regulate SOEs at international, regional and domestic level and seeks to determine their effect on international law. At international level the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the OECD Guidelines on the Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises, the OECD Common Approaches for Officially Supported Credits and Environmental and Social Due Diligence, the ILO Tripartite Declaration Concerning Multinational Enterprises, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Sovereign Wealth Funds Generally Accepted Principles and Practices and the Global Compact are particularly relevant for SOEs. At regional level, public procurement may represent a key regulatory opportunity for SOEs from a human rights perspective and to this end this section provides an analysis of the EU Public Procurement Directives. The section on domestic approaches to SOE regulation analyses measures that have been taken by several States to address the human rights dimension of State corporate ownership.