A/HRC/22/41 problems involving PMSCs and was working to put such a certification system in place. The United Kingdom will also use its leverage as a contractor of private security services to ensure respect for the principles laid down in the International Code of Conduct. Under the International Criminal Court Act of 2001 British employees of PMSCs involved in grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, torture, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by British nationals could be held be held criminally accountable. Certain other serious crimes committed overseas by British nationals can also be prosecuted in British courts. The Government of the United Kingdom is also developing standards on the use of armed guards on ships to protect against the threat of piracy. On the domestic level, the UK Security Industry Authority, set up under the Private Security Industry Act 2001, was the organization responsible for regulating the private security industry by inter alia operating a licensing regime. 54. The European Union emphasized that national legislation was an important means for ensuring accountability and providing redress for victims. The nature and precise modalities of the national legislation would depend on experiences and needs of a State, ranging from being a contracting State, territorial State, home State or a combination of these three dimensions. The extraterritorial dimension of many PMSC activities may pose challenges for the investigation of specific cases. Some States, including some European Union member States, already had legislation on PMSCs, while others would benefit from further guidance to legislate or otherwise regulate. The European Union suggested that the intergovernmental working group could consider compiling best practices and model laws that States could adapt to their country-specific needs. The development of national action plans, which covered legislative and other measures, could also be helpful as part of a comprehensive approach. 55. South Africa stated that its Foreign Military Assistance Act required that any military assistance provided by South Africans abroad had to be authorized and that such authorization would not be granted if the assistance rendered could result in the infringement of human rights and fundamental freedoms, endanger the peace, escalate regional conflict or support terrorist activities. The 2002 Private Security Industry Regulation Act imposed strict standards on the private security industry and provides for monitoring mechanisms. 56. China stated that in 2009, a new regulation on security services was enacted, which included all types of security services into its supervision network and tightened the monitoring of security companies. This regulation established a licensing system for security companies and a qualification system for security guards. It also provided for accountability mechanisms, including administrative and criminal sanctions and civil remedies. 2. Perspective of victims 57. In her presentation on the perspective of victims, Patricia Feeney provided several examples of cases in which PMSCs and/or their employees were responsible for human rights violations and, in some cases, alleged complicity in the commission of war crimes. She cited cases where PMSCs allegedly had acted together with State security forces in the commission of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law, for example, through indiscriminate aerial bombardments, murder and rape. She noted that in most of the cases to which she referred, victims had been denied justice and corporate actors not held to account. 58. Ms. Feeney noted that while non-judicial mechanisms have a role to play in providing redress to victims, their potential value should not be overstated. She cited the example of the National Contact Point (NCP) procedure under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational 13