Reports

Annual Reporting by National Contact Points 
for the period June 2006-June 2007

BRAZIL/BRÉSIL

A. Institutional Arrangements

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises were formally implemented in Brazil in May 2003. The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Finance is responsible for coordinating the National Contact Point (NCP) in Brazil. 

Other ministries are also full members of the NCP: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade and the Brazilian Central Bank.

Since the NCP in Brazil is composed by several ministries it has a widespread representation among government entities, which enables the group to count with specialized feedback in almost all relevant areas covered by the Guidelines. If any specific case demands further representation of any other public institution, the NCP is authorized to invite it to join its meetings. The invitation can even be extended to join the NCP group on a permanent basis, since the Brazilian National Decree which stipulates the composition of the NCP allows other government bodies to join the group.

Despite the pervasive representation within the public sector, the NCP still lacks formal representation channels among civil society entities. This gap is partly offset by the intense activity of some NGO´s and labour unions with good communication with the government. Nevertheless, several social segments that are less vocal are rather underrepresented in their claims towards the NCP. To partly remedy this, the Brazilian NCP created a mailing list which is open to membership to all interested parties and allows fast and direct consultation to its registered members. Even though this rather informal channel does not substitute formal ones, it has the advantage of being expeditious, open to immediate membership and immune to bureaucratic impediments.

In this context, one of the NCP´s challenges is to establish formal communication channels with all relevant social actors. The NCP constantly invites civil society representatives to join their regular meetings, allowing them to express their concerns, present their criticisms with respect to the functioning of the group and also to orally support their claims in specific instances. In the group’s last encounter with the largest Labor Union in Brazil – CUT, a decision was issued to regularly invite them to forthcoming meetings. Initiatives of this sort have the main goal of developing participation links with all interested parties, as a means to confer increased legitimacy to the NCP. The group’s future challenge is to formally create an Advisory Committee to cooperate with it in establishing strategies, proposing measures and activities to effectively promote the implementation of the Guidelines in Brazil. 

With respect to the functioning of the meetings of the NCP group and its usual activities, an internal resolution (Resolution NCP Nº 01/2007) about the regular procedures of the group has been issued. This Resolution was formally approved after a public consultation process which received relevant feedback and suggestions from several entities. The Resolution aims at becoming an essential milestone towards further institutional developments. It essentially seeks to confer transparency, predictability and organization to the routine of the Brazilian NCP. Moreover, it hopes to offer guidance and relevant information to potential users of the Guidelines. Particular attention is driven to actions to be taken while receiving a complaint and to the relevant required information. 

In this particular sense, also with the main goal of providing maximum support and guidance to the presentation of specific instances, a “Model for Filing Complaints” was prepared and posted on the Brazilian NCP´s website. This initiative proved to be very helpful since it provided a considerable increase in the quality of the filed cases and helped to partly offset one of the most recurrent problems of the cases presented to the Brazilian NCP: the lack of focus.

Finally, one last improvement implemented by the Brazilian NCP with respect to institutional arrangements was the decision to issue reports in all filed cases. According to Resolution NCP Nº 01/2007, the group is required to formally present its position in two occasions. First, when a complaint is filed it is supposed to accept it or not, taking into account a list of objective conditions. Afterwards, the NCP is required to issue a final statement describing the attained results in each case. 

Name of Responsible Officer: Pedro de Abreu e Lima Florêncio.
Address: Secretaria de Assuntos Internacionais 
Ministério da Fazenda
Setor da Autarquias Sul, Quadra 03, Bloco “O”, Sala 1003
70079 – 900 Brasília – Distrito Federal - Brasil
Telephone: (+5561) 3412 4013 
Fac-Símile: (+5561) 3412 4057
E-mail: pcn.ocde@fazenda.gov.br 

The OECD Liaison Office of the Brazilian Embassy in Paris has a supporting role in relation to the Guidelines and its implementation. The OECD Liaison Office is responsible, within the Brazilian Embassy in France, for the follow-up and coordination of all activities related to the cooperation between the OECD and Brazil. 

Name of Responsible Officer: Counsellor João Carlos Parkinson
Address: Ambassade du Brésil en France
Bureau de Liaison avec l’OCDE
34, cours Albert 1er
75800 Paris - France
Telephone: (+331) 4561 6306 or 6309
Fac-Símile: (+331) 4289 0345 / 5375- 05 46
E-mail: ocde@bresil.org

B. Information and Promotion

The OECD Guidelines and the Implementation Procedures are available in Brazil and the translations of the text into Portuguese are provided in the website of the Ministry of Finance (www.fazenda.gov.br/multinacionaispcn). The website was completely recreated and updated in order to maximize this tool to promote and divulge the Guidelines. The NCP has been constantly contacted by organizations and individuals which come across the issue of corporate social responsibility through the internet. The website also contains a link to the OECD homepage and to other important multilateral and bilateral agencies, labor union confederations, science and technology institutions, industry and trade confederations, chambers of commerce and industry, consumer protection agencies, etc.

Some other interesting innovations provided in the reformulation of the website include: 

• the possibility of directly sending messages to the Brazilian NCP through the website;

• small texts providing upfront answers to simple questions that immediately explain the content and importance of the OECD guidelines, such as: “What are the Guidelines for multinational enterprises?”, “What is the NCP?”, “How to forward complaints to the NCP?”;

• creation of a mailing list open to membership through the website; 

• remittance of all relevant information posted in the website to the mailing list members;

• the NCP´s webpage used to be a link inserted inside the Ministry of Finance’s website. The link was established as “NCP”, which is an acronym normally ignored by visitors. The new established link: “Corporate Social Responsibility – OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises”, has significantly enhanced communication, and, as a consequence, increased the number of interested visitors;

• inclusion in the website of all relevant NCP documents such as the abovementioned “Model for filing complaints” and the NCP Resolution Nº 01/2007;

During the last year, several other actions were undertaken in the area of implementation and promotion, including a widespread number of activities ranging from interviews in specialized magazines to participation in conferences, roundtables and seminars.

We provide a list below of the main activities in this field: 

• seminar on August 2006 to the main Brazilian labor unions to explain how to understand and effectively use the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;

• interview of the NCP coordinator to a specialized Brazilian magazine in corporate social responsibility – Revista Primeiro Plano available at http://www.fazenda.gov.br/sain/pcnmulti/documentos/outros/entrevista-200307.asp;

• participation in thesis, researches and academic dissertations in the field of corporate social responsibility;

• involvement in the meeting of Latin American NCP´s in Santiago, Chile, presentation given to local NGO´s and labor unions; 

• participation in a dinner offered by the Swedish Embassy to discuss actions in the field of corporate social responsibility in Brazil;

• organization of several meetings with interested parties to discuss NCP Resolution Nº 01/2007.

Finally, one last important initiative that is sought to the future is to particularly disseminate the OECD guidelines within multinationals to entice them to operate more accordingly with its dispositions. Most multinationals in Brazil ignore the existence of the OECD guidelines. The disclosure of information related to the topic among parties affected by formal offences to the guidelines is much more intense if compared to those potentially responsible for them, i.e., the multinationals. This occurs because NGO´s and trade unions help to divulge the topic among the possible complainants while the dissemination work directed towards multinationals rests uniquely dependent upon the NCP. It is therefore important to undertake a dissemination work focused on multinationals to enhance the visibility of the guidelines among the business community, possibly preventing future complaints due to their increased understanding and assimilation of the document. 

Once a case is formally filed to the NCP there is also an essential work of conciliation and mediation to be undertaken. NGO´s and workers have revealed to the Brazilian NCP that it is crucial to count on a forum for resolution of conflicts with multinationals, since the mediation channels are reduced in Brazil and the sole existence of an effective NCP increases the chances of encountering a solution.

C. Implementation in specific instances

During the last year several complaints have been filed to the Brazilian NCP, probably as a result of its efforts in activities of promotion. The main cases are summarized below. Since some specific instances have not yet been formally accepted, according to NCP Resolution Nº 01/2007, their disclosure remain confidential aiming not to unduly affect the parties´ image. When the current coordinator took office last year, a number of cases from previous years were still pending conclusion. Due to the fact that a considerable amount of new complaints were filed and in view of the limited resources available, NCP Brazil decided to focus on the new cases and on institutional activities. The old complaints are expected to be gradually concluded. This decision aimed at privileging a pragmatic approach to the issues before NCP Brazil and represented a need to maximize efforts in an effective way subject to our current working restraints. 

1. Company: Shell Brazil Holding B.V.

Complainant: Coletivo Alternativa Verde – CAVE, a NGO acting on environmental issues, and Labor Union of Petroleum By-Products Workers in the State of São Paulo (SIPETROL).

Complaint: The Company has not taken appropriate safety measures to prevent workers and the surrounding population from incurring in health problems. The company’s activities also allegedly harmed the local environment area. 

Norm: Chapter V, article 1 – “Enterprises should, within the framework of laws, regulations and administrative practices in the countries in which they operate, and in consideration of relevant international agreements, principles, objectives, and standards, take due account of the need to protect the environment, public health and safety, and generally to conduct their activities in a manner contributing to the wider goal of sustainable development. In particular, enterprises should: 1. Establish and maintain a system of environmental management appropriate to the enterprise, including: a) Collection and evaluation of adequate and timely information regarding the environmental, health, and safety impacts of their activities; b) Establishment of measurable objectives and, where appropriate, targets for improved environmental performance, including periodically reviewing the continuing relevance of these objectives; and c) Regular monitoring and verification of progress toward environmental, health, and safety objectives or targets. Chapter V, article 3 - Assess, and address in decision-making, the foreseeable environmental, health, and safety related impacts associated with the processes, goods and services of the enterprise over their full life cycle. Where these proposed activities may have significant environmental, health, or safety impacts, and where they are subject to a decision of a competent authority, prepare an appropriate environmental impact assessment.

Date that specific instance was received: May 8th, 2006. 

Sector of activity: Distribution of petrol and its derivatives.

Present situation: NCP Brazil accepted the complaint and issued a formal document stating the reasons for so. A mediation process is currently been implemented. Several meetings and contacts have been held with the opposing parties. 

Apart from this complaint, one other has been formally rejected because it lacked documents of proof of the alleged violation of the Guidelines. Four other newly presented cases have been filed, all of them related to labor issues. All these cases are under analysis. 

D. Other

NCP Brazil recognizes that much more work has to be done to increase the visibility of the Guidelines and the activities of implementation in specific instances.

We also recognize that an important part of the task concerning the promotion of the guidelines in Brazil has been carried on by labor unions, confederations, and NGO’s. The Brazilian NCP is fully aware of the importance of the Guidelines and also about the need of establishing a more functional and organizational structure.

However, during the last year, an important evolution has been made, especially in the field of institutional developments and promotion. This progress can be considered more than satisfactory given our working constraints. The current endeavours in the institutional domain are particularly important to assure long-lasting public policies, cooperation structures and channels aimed to continue, independently of cabinet reshuffles and political changes. In this sense, we hope to have positively contributed and expect to inaugurate hereinafter a continuous improvement path.