The host countries for the operations of Canadian multinational enterprises may or may not be States that have adhered to the Guidelines. In other words, the Guidelines apply in countries whose States are not members of the OECD and which have not adhered to the Guidelines but which receive foreign investment and operations from multinational enterprises based in countries that have adhered to the Guidelines. El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua or Panama are neither OECD members nor have adhered to the Guidelines, but are countries which, as part of global supply chains, are recipients of offshore operations by multinational enterprises based in countries that have adhered to the Guidelines. The Guidelines are also applicable to the offshore operations of these multinational companies in these four Central American countries.
The Guidelines are one of the main elements contained in the Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises adopted in 1976 within the OECD. Each national State signatory to this Declaration considers itself bound by the Guidelines. Both OECD and non-OECD Member
States have adhered to the Guidelines.3 Each State signatory to the Guidelines is obliged to respect, encourage and promote compliance with the recommendations contained in the Guidelines and to establish so-called “National Contact Points” (discussed below).
Currently the OECD Member States are:4 Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. The non-OECD states that are signatories to the Guidelines are: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Peru, Romania, Tunisia, Ukraine.
3.2
What is the content of the Guidelines?
The Guidelines contain recommendations distributed thematically in 11 chapters. The updated text of the Guidelines can be found at this link:
http://mneguidelines.oecd.org/guidelines/ Some of the recommendations from each chapter are highlighted below.
3. The updated list of OECD Member States can be found here: https://www.oecd.org/about/members-and-part� ners/ 4. The updated list of States adhering to the Guidelines can be found at this link: https://mneguidelines.oecd.org/ ncps//
PRACTICAL GUIDE TO TRADE UNION ACTION: International Human Rights Instruments
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