Article 30 of the OPC’s enabling law establishes a two-year time limit for the admissibility of complaints. While the OPC has indicated that it has never applied such a limitation for human rights violations in practice, the SCA considers that the institution’s enabling law should not contain provisions that may unduly restrict the effective exercise of the OPC’s mandate. 

Furthermore, while the OPC states that it carries out work on issues related to business and human rights, it has not provided information on measures taken to implement the SCA’s previous recommendations, to advocate for amendments to its enabling law so as to enable the institution to address human rights violations resulting from acts or omissions of private entities. 

While taking note of the current political context, which is not conducive to legislative amendments, the SCA reiterates its previous recommendations and recommends that the OPC continue to advocate for appropriate amendments to its enabling law to ensure that it has full authority to investigate complaints against both public and private bodies, and that its law contains no provisions that may limit the scope of its mandate. 

The SCA refers to the Paris Principles, sections A.1 and A.2, and to its General Observation 1.2 on ‘Human rights mandate’.