A/HRC/38/48 Resources after it refused to engage with the National Contact Point when a complaint was brought against it.60 82. The German National Action Plan also recognizes the need for linking the decisions of the National Contact Point to support in trade promotion. It includes a proposed measure that the National Contact Point be upgraded to a central complaints mechanism for projects relating to foreign trade promotion. The Plan also created a link between business participation in a specific instance procedure and the grant of export credit guarantees, providing an additional incentive for a company to participate in mediation. The Dutch National Contact Point has also committed to applying consequences to businesses that refuse to participate in its process, a commitment that will be tested for the first time in an ongoing case. 83. Three States (Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) reference the linkage between national contact point procedures and export finance in their National Action Plans, although with a nuance regarding the outcome of the case versus good faith engagement by the company in the process. For example, UK Export Finance will consider any reports made publicly available by the National Contact Point in respect of the human rights record of a company when considering a project for export credit. 84. While some export credit agencies, such as that of Japan, indicate that national contact point reports (or other credible findings) will be factored into export credit decisions, to date it is unclear how or when this has happened, apart from the one example in Canada cited above. Other States should follow suit in terms of linking national contact point and other remedial processes to whether a company continues to receive trade support. In combating corruption, a company will often lose its right to participate in government procurement exercises because of a determination that it was engaged in bribery and a similar approach should be explored in relation to human rights-related complaints. IV. Import and export restrictions to prevent trade in goods with links to human rights abuses 85. States are using restrictions on exports and imports as a means of ensuring greater corporate respect for human rights. This takes the form of export/import restrictions on certain types of goods that are linked to human rights violations in global supply chains. 86. One example is the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, an initiative of Argentina, the European Union and Mongolia bringing together countries from around the world. Its aim is to end the trade in goods used to carry out the death penalty and torture. The countries of the Alliance commit themselves to taking measures to control and restrict exports of such products. 87. The European Union has drafted a regulation that will add certain cybersurveillance tools to the list of goods and technologies that need to be approved prior to export. The draft regulation introduces the new concept of “human security” to export controls, to prevent the human rights violations associated with certain cybersurveillance technologies. The proposal mirrors amendments to the German Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance in 2015, which made companies that sell surveillance products subject to new mandatory export licence requirements to prevent misuse of surveillance technologies for internal repression.61 88. In 2016, via the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, the United States Congress closed a loophole in section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which barred products made by convict, forced or indentured labour. Until now, the law has exempted goods 60 61 See OECD Watch, “Remedy remains rare: an analysis of 15 years of NCP cases and their contribution to improve access to remedy for victims of corporate misconduct”, p. 46. See European Parliamentary Research Service briefing, available at www.europarl.europa.eu/ RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/589832/EPRS_BRI%282016%29589832_EN.pdf. 17