Governance
After the Agreement became effective, the Parties set up a Steering Committee to guide the implementation process. The members of the Steering Committee represent the parties and banks adhering to the Agreement. The Committee was chaired by an independent chairperson: Prof. Jacqueline Cramer.
Secretariat
At the request of the Steering Committee, the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) held the secretariat. The SER also facilitated the negotiations that led to the Agreement.
External Monitoring Committee
Every year, an independent Monitoring Committee monitored the input and the progress made by the parties and banks towards meeting their obligations. The committee submitted annual reports to the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee drafted and published summaries of the opinions and advices provided by the Monitoring Committee as part of its Annual Report.
After their nomination by the Steering Committee, the members of the Monitoring Committee were appointed in 2017 by the Dutch Minister of Finance and the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development. The members of the Monitoring Committee were Ms Christiane Colinet, Attorney at Law at the Bar of Brussels and at the Bar of Florence, Mr Hans Voortman, retired banker and supervisor, and Mr Cees van Dam, Professor of International Business and Human Rights at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.
Complaints and disputes
The parties and the adhering banks could submit a complaint to the Steering Committee about non-compliance with the Agreement by any of the participants. In case mediation would not have been a solution, the Steering Committee could have issued a binding opinion, although not legally enforceable. During the term of the Agreement, the Steering Committee did not had to deal with any complaints or disputes.