A/HRC/38/48 found that Atradius qualified as a multinational enterprise under the Guidelines and concluded that the specific instance merited further consideration.46 A. Examples of good practices among export credit agencies 61. The environmental and social practitioners group associated with the OECD Export Credit Group include representatives of countries which are not OECD members, such as Brazil, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and others. The fact that a wide range of publicly-backed export credit agencies from both member and non-member OECD countries take part in the meetings of the group is a positive step in terms of peer learning and development of good practice. It appears, however that even within the OECD group, export credit agencies are still in the early phases of developing good practice. It is important for them to share their good practices more widely, as evolving public expectations continue to shine a spotlight on the critical role they play in the business and human rights arena.47 62. The Norwegian Export Credit Guarantee Agency was one of the first to incorporate human rights due diligence into their screening procedures. The Agency indicates that its environmental and human rights due diligence procedure is based on the OECD Common Approaches and the Guiding Principles.48 Although the Agency uses the IFC Performance Standards, it states that in order to address any potential gaps in practice, its due diligence process will take into consideration all internationally recognized human rights in a manner that is consistent with the Guiding Principles.49 The Agency is also unique in describing how it understands and intends to use its leverage to advance respect for human rights in its clients’ operations. 63. In the Netherlands, Atradius goes beyond the Common Approaches in conducting human rights due diligence if there is a risk of severe human rights impacts in smaller or shorter-term transactions. It recognizes that the most severe risks to stakeholders may occur in any transaction, unrelated to the duration of cover, the amount of a transaction, or the fact that the policy covers a mobile asset. Atradius was also the first export credit agency to make public a gap analysis, in which it examined its policies and procedures against the Guiding Principles. 64. The Swedish export credit system has developed specific policies and portals that address human rights impacts in the telecommunications sector and make reference to freedom online in documents providing them with annual appropriations. 50 Swedish policies regarding telecommunications provide an interesting model because they focus on a series of impacts that may not be captured by the IFC Performance Standards, which focus on large-scale projects. The development of sector specific guidance is a welcome addition to the export credit area. 65. Even within the OECD Export Credit Group, good practice is still emerging. As a point of comparison, a number of export credit agencies require companies seeking export finance support to make anti-bribery commitments. This includes non-OECD agencies that are parties to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and have taken this step to implement the relevant recommendation. 46 47 48 49 50 Relevant documents are available from https://www.oecdwatch.org/cases/Case_365. See Chair of the OECD working party on responsible business conduct, Roel Nieuwenkamp, on the role of export credit agencies, available from www.permanentrepresentations.nl/ latest/news/2015/01/12/blog---evolving-expectations-the-role-of-export-credit-agencies-inpromoting-and-exemplifying-responsible-business-practices. Environmental and human rights policy, available from www.giek.no/responsible-businessconduct/sustainability-article1796-1075.html. Ibid. Institute for Human Rights and Business, “Telecommunications and human rights: an export credit perspective”. 13