NEWS News

On Thursday, February 29, 2024, JaCER held its second Stakeholder Panel meeting of FY2023 online. The Stakeholder Panel is supposed to provide recommendations and advice on the overall operations of JaCER, including the operation of the Dialogue and Remedy Platform, from the perspective of each stakeholder and from the viewpoint of enhancing the effectiveness of the operations, and once again a lively exchange of views took place. In particular, the Panel this time concentrated on JaCER’s approach to neutrality in relation to the effectiveness of the Dialogue Remedy Platform.

Starting this time, the committee will be facilitated by a Panel member, and Mr. Ujiie, a member of the Global Compact Network Japan, was selected to lead the committee. At the beginning of the meeting, Co-Executive Director Mr. Takahashi explained the purpose of the meeting, and Co-Executive Director Mr. Tomita gave a briefing on the management and activities of JaCER. Regarding the effectiveness of the dialogue and Remedy platform, Manager Dr. Ueda explained JaCER's approach to neutrality.

This was followed by questions, comments, and suggestions from Panel members. The main comments and suggestions are as follows.

1. 1. Comments on the management of JaCER

• Conflicts of interest of the Panel members themselves
• Need for clarification of criteria for closing a case and insertion of a date.
• Confirmation of membership fees and capacity of the management structure.
• Requests for external sharing of good practices
• Inquiry on the criteria for using advisory and Mediation Panel members, etc.
   

2. 2. Comments on the effectiveness of the dialogue and remedy platform

• The term "neutrality" is ambiguous, so the term "independence" should be used.
• Periodic publication of reports on JaCER's activities
• Need to disclose the reasons for closing cases.
• The need to include transparency and accountability in the integrity policy, etc.

The Organization will consider and implement the suggestions received with the aim of establishing a more reliable and effective complaint handling platform.