Recommendations for the Revised U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

ICAR is pleased to share our final comment and recommendations for the revised United States National Action Plan (NAP) on Responsible Business Conduct.

On June 16, 2021 the Biden administration announced its plans to develop a second iteration of the U.S. NAP on Responsible Business Conduct. In response to the government’s call for stakeholder input, ICAR worked with partners to develop and finalize an extensive list of concrete policy recommendations for the U.S. government to consider in shaping its commitments in the updated NAP.

In this submission, we have leveraged the collective expertise of the ICAR coalition to highlight specific opportunities for the USG to strengthen corporate accountability. As our recommendations illustrate, this is not a niche issue. Corporate accountability is an essential but often overlooked element of many current priority initiatives of the USG. These initiatives include promoting responsible use of advanced technologies, incorporating racial justice into U.S. foreign policy, improving the effectiveness of sanctions as a foreign policy tool, addressing environmental justice and climate change, strengthening labor rights, and securing access to responsible and reliable supply chains for critical minerals, among others.

With the updated NAP, the U.S. Government has the responsibility and opportunity not only to build on previous commitments and initiatives, but to break new ground and point in new directions that can set the stage for faster, further progress through this pivotal decade and beyond. We expect that the NAP will establish responsible business conduct – and corporate accountability in particular – as an integral part of U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. We offer our recommendations in this spirit.