A/HRC/35/32 such as that of the European Commission 54 and the Guiding Principles themselves, can provide useful references for the translation that Governments must do to promote implementation of the Guiding Principles domestically. 45. That task will no doubt have to overcome the traditional psychological hurdle of perceiving small and medium-sized enterprises as local economic growth institutions with little or no focus on social responsibility. However, as all States have a duty to protect human rights from business-related human rights abuse, an important aspect is to foster respect for human rights by such enterprises and other businesses, which should be included as part of a government’s overall approach to implementing the Guiding Principles at the national level. The Human Rights Council has called on Governments to develop national action plans on business and human rights,55 and, as the Working Group explains in its guidance on those plans, such plans need to be developed through an inclusive process involving all stakeholders.56 In such processes, small and medium-sized enterprises should not be overlooked. 46. An example of this relationship in practice is the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 57 While the core obligations — to monitor and control operations and ensure the absence of human trafficking and slavery — only apply to businesses with an annual turnover of more than GBP 36 million, those businesses also have reporting obligations with regard to their supply chains. That means that small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to see contractual requirements in dealings with large businesses, requiring the former to report how they operate in respect of the Act. 58 As a result, small and medium-sized enterprises will have to adopt similar reporting practices as the large businesses with which they establish contracts. Furthermore, along with the rest of the supply chain, they will contribute to efforts to eliminate slavery and human trafficking. 47. Apart from the deliberate policy adjustment necessary to support small and mediumsized enterprises in their implementation of the Guiding Principles, particular attention should be paid to existing and future legislative and regulatory initiatives that have implications for them. Regulation is a key driver for fostering business respect for human rights. For example, the Modern Slavery Act, which was not directly aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises, has in practice proved very relevant to their work. 48. Several existing initiatives provide opportunities to promote further action by States to support small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing the Guiding Principles. For example, in 2010, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) launched an initiative on the business ethics for these enterprises in the organization. It has utilized that agreement to develop standard principles for codes of ethics in target sectors, build capacity to assist interested organizations in drafting and implementing codes consistent with APEC principles and generate awareness and collaboration among all key stakeholders. 59 Aligning such efforts with the Guiding Principles could be an effective way of reaching a large number of State-owned enterprises. 49. Business enterprises have called on States to take action to promote the Guiding Principles among them, including small and medium-sized enterprises. In a 2017 statement, the Business 20, part of the official Group of 20 dialogue with the global business community, calls on the Group to promote the Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in order to strengthen responsible business 54 55 56 57 58 59 Available from http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/sme-definition_en. See Human Rights Council resolution 26/22. See Working Group on business and human rights, “Guidance on National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights” (2016). Available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/ UNWG_%20NAPGuidance.pdf. Available from www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted. See http://devant.co.uk/the-modern-slavery-act-2015-a-guide-for-smes. See http://mcprinciples.apec.org/CMFiles/Resources%202015/GeneralOverview.pdf. 13