In December 2012, the draft Information and Communciation technology (ICT) sector guidance was released for public consultation (closing date 13th February). This is part of a initiative of European Commission to develop guidance on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The European Commission identified the development of guidance on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as one of its priority actions in its October 2011 Communication on Corporate Social Responsibility. The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and Shift (the Project Team) were selected to carry out the project of developing the three guides for the Commission.

In February 2012, the Commission announced that guidance would be developed for the employment and recruitment agencies, information and communication technology (ICT) and oil and gas sectors.

In line with the approach to the development of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Project Team is committed to developing sector-specific guidance based on extensive multi-stakeholder consultation. Visit the Consultation Documents and Reports page for information on the public reports and documents produced to date.

While the guides will take account of the experiences of EU business, they aim to be as globally relevant as possible, and their development is being informed by the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from business, civil society, trade union, and government, as well as other experts.

The project team is conducting baseline research, extensive interviews with diverse stakeholders (75+ per sector), and facilitate two multistakeholder roundtables per sector (the first was held from 30 May – 1 June 2012). The project team is also drawing on the guidance of the European Commission's Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) and three Sector Advisory Groups (SAGs).

  • December 2012: Release of draft Guidance documents for public comment. Click here for the Information and Communciation technology (ICT) sector guidance.
  • December 2012 – January 2013: Public consultation on draft Guidance documents and second set of multi-stakeholder sector Roundtables (end January) hosted by the European Commission
  • February – April 2013: Guidance finalisation, submission of the three Guidance documents to the European Commission and publication.

 

Please send comments to [email protected] with a subject line of “ICT Draft Guidance Feedback” by the closing date of Wednesday 13th February 2013.