Mandate: RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL RENEWING AND REVISING THE MANDATE OF THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE  [C(2018)118] and [C/M(2018)24 Item. 251]

RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL RENEWING AND REVISING THE MANDATE OF THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

THE COUNCIL,

Having regard to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of 14 December 1960; 

Having regard to the Rules of Procedure of the Organisation;

Having regard to the Revised Resolution of the Council on Partnerships in OECD Bodies [C(2012)100/REV1/FINAL];

Having regard to the Resolution of the Council concerning the Investment Committee’s previous mandate [C(2013)86 and C/M(2013)17, Item 174, b];

Having regard to the recommendations of the In-depth Evaluation of the Investment Committee and the ensuing action plan of the Investment Committee [C(2017)52 and DAF/INV(2018)9/REV1];

Having regard to the proposed revision of the mandate of the Investment Committee [C(2018)118];

DECIDES:

A.   The Investment Committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) is renewed with the following revised mandate:

I. Objectives

a.   The mission of the Committee is to promote growth and sustainable development worldwide through international co-operation and policy reforms in support of sustainable investment policies;

b.   Its main objectives include:

i)   Promoting fair, open and efficient markets through OECD investment standards to address emerging investment policy challenges;

ii)   Promoting responsible business conduct globally by supporting the implementation of the due diligence guidance on Responsible Business Conduct, through inter alia, multi-stakeholder engagement;

iii)   Working with governments to put in place policies to maximise the social and economic benefits of inward and outward international investment for development and help governments minimise any negative effects and support those who have been hurt by globalisation;

iv)   Promoting informed policy dialogue, formulation and implementation by improving i) analysis of investment policies, including investment treaties and ii) existing approaches for measuring international investment activities and developing new measures in support of the analysis of emerging investment trends;

v)   Promoting understanding, awareness, use, and, where appropriate, adherence to the Committee’s flagship investment instruments and policy tools, including the OECD Codes of Liberalisation of Capital Movements and of Current Invisible Operations, the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (including the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises), the Recommendations of the Council on the Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment and on the Policy Framework for Investment.

c.   In order to achieve these objectives, the Committee shall:

i)   act as a forum for peer surveillance of policy developments and multilateral dialogue on best practices in the fields of international investment and multinational enterprises, capital movements, and international financial and other services covered by the OECD investment instruments;

ii)   actively engage with emerging economies, in particular through increasing adherence to existing OECD investment instruments, close association in the development of new or revised instruments, policy dialogue and assistance from the Committee;

iii)   carry out the tasks assigned to it by Council related to the OECD investment instruments such as the  Codes of Liberalisation of Capital Movements and of Current Invisible Operations (hereafter the “Codes”) in accordance with the Decision of the Council on the Governance of the Codes [C(2012)88/REV2] and Council Decisions related to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises and the Recommendations of the Council on OECD Due Diligence Guidance; tasks resulting from the Recommendation of the Council on the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment and the Recommendation of the Council on the Policy Framework for Investment;

iv)   monitor and promote coherence of all work carried out within the Organisation, including through horizontal projects, in the field of international investment and multinational enterprises, capital movements, investment treaties and international financial and other services as covered by the Codes, and present recommendations and proposals for this purpose to the Council or to other committees;

v)   focus its work on delivering policy and analytical outputs of high quality and with high impact and regularly evaluate how well the Committee is meeting its objectives.

II.   Co-ordination arrangements

   The Committee shall:

a.   strengthen co-operation with other OECD bodies through joint bodies (such as the Advisory Task Force on the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the Working group on International Investment Statistics), through its involvement in or leadership of major horizontal initiatives, such as the Policy Framework for Investment, and through regular dialogue between the Chairs of the Committee and subsidiary bodies and their counterparts in other relevant OECD bodies as well as the Council;

b.   promote and develop strategic partnerships at the global level through its Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct, regionally through regional programmes which have a presence in all regions of the world, and bilaterally through active engagement with the Key Partners and other non-Members directly involved in the work of the Committee, including as Adherents to the legal instruments under its responsibility. It shall also continue to promote and develop partnerships with the relevant international and regional organisations, in particular in the context of capacity building programmes with Partners;

c.   promote dialogue with, and consider inputs from the business community, labour representatives, other major civil society stakeholders and leading academics.

B.   The mandate of the Investment Committee shall remain in force until 31 December 2023.