A/HRC/29/28 national labour standards and the enforcement of international standards. 34 However, it also poses challenges, in terms of the risk of confusion and diverging interpretation, and thereby of uniform application and protection.35 While it is important to take the latter concern into account, there should nevertheless be scope for going further, beyond the current focus on labour provisions. It is pointed out in a research report on the “state of play” of the political economy of business and human rights that this is possible, as reflected in specific examples of existing trade agreements. 36 A cautious approach would thus be to couple the increased call for integration of human rights needs with international coordination and alignment around common tools and benchmarks. 3. Public procurement 40. A specific policy area with links to trade in which there has been considerable movement since the endorsement of the Guiding Principles is public procurement. It is noted in the commentary to Guiding Principle 6 that States conduct a variety of commercial transactions with business enterprises, not least through their procurement activities. One estimate puts the magnitude of public procurement at 15–25 per cent of the gross domestic product of OECD member States, and even higher in a number of countries in other regions. 37 As emphasized in the commentary to Guiding Principle 6, this provides States— individually and collectively—with unique opportunities to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in such transactions. Concerns that human rights requirements would be perceived as trade barriers and be at odds with competition and trade rules have been cited as a common obstacle to introducing such a consideration into public procurement procedures.However, in order to meet their duty to protect human rights and incentivize business respect for human rights in the context of procurement activities, competition considerations should not trump international human rights standards. Indeed, trade agreements on procurement make it clear that governments retain the authority to adopt measures that protect public morals, safety and order. 41. The impact of sustainable public procurement on responsible business conduct was the topic of the 2014 inter-agency round table on corporate social responsibility, at which the importance of standards set by ILO and the Guiding Principles was mentioned. It was affirmed that there was now near-universal consensus that sustainable procurement practice was fully compatible with free trade and an important part of public policy. Moreover, sustainable procurement was a concern for States in all regions and at different levels of economic development.38 42. As seen in the 2014 annual Forum on Business and Human Rights, there is increased interest in a number of jurisdictions in exploring ways to integrate human rights into public procurement.39 However, specific measures are few. There are ongoing initiatives to 12 34 “Labour provisions in free trade agreements: fostering their consistency with the ILO standards system”, background paper, Social dimensions of free trade agreements, available from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--inst/documents/genericdocument/wcms_237940.pdf. 35 Ibid. 36 See Institute for Human Rights and Business, State of Play (see footnote 41), chap. 5. 37 Ibid., p. 53. 38 See www.csrroundtable.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CSR-Roundtable-Sumary-revised4.12.14.pdf. 39 See for example the session overview of the 2014 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, organized by the Working Group in collaboration with external partners, available from