About

Friends of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises has no formal affiliation with the OECD.  It is a platform to publicize and discuss worldwide issues and trends in responsible business conduct related to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (the Guidelines).

For more information about the Guidelines please see http://mneguidelines.oecd.org/

This blog is administered and authored by Prof. Dr. R. (Roel) Nieuwenkamp.

Roel studied Economics, Law and Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He worked at the European Commission and was a consultant in New Zealand. He worked for several years as management consultant at Arthur Andersen.
In 1998 he became interim manager at the Ministry of Education. From 2001 until August 2006 he was managing director of the Entrepreneurship Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

From September 2006 until May 2013, he was managing director of the International Trade Policy & Economic Governance Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands. His responsibilities concerned trade policy (WTO), investment policy, corporate responsibility, and the regulation of trade in weapons and strategic goods.

In addition to his job he wrote his PhD dissertation about the interaction between ministers and top civil servants. From 2010 to 2014 he was part-time Professor of Public Administration at the University of Amsterdam. He still teaches at several universities.

Roel was Chair of the OECD Working Party on International Investment and in that capacity chaired the sensitive negotiations on the 2011 revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. He chaired the Voluntary Principles for Security & Human Rights in the Extractives Industries in 2009 and 2013.

Since June 2013, Roel is Chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, the intergovernmental committee overseeing the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. As such he leads the body of governments in charge of the OECD corporate responsibility work, including the sectoral programmes for the financial, mining, garment, and agricultural sectors. In this capacity, he also chairs the Network of National Contact Points on Responsible Business Conduct, which represent the unique globally active grievance mechanism under the OECD Guidelines.