"...The field covered under the title ? business and human rights” is vast and complex. It encompasses issues relating to the respective role of States and business enterprises, which as such cover a wide diversity of matters. It may address issues relating to incorporation and functioning of corporate bodies in domestic jurisdictions, the financing of economic activities, rules governing transnational investment, State-owned national bodies that promote and insure export and imports, the securities field, and the relationship between the State and private business es, particularly those operating abroad. It touches upon the law of civil remedies and criminal law, and in many countries it involves constitutional law. While there are many actors and situations that may exert influence on business behaviour, this report focuses on the identification of gaps in international law and its implementation, which are arguably part of the permissive environment for businesses? abuse of human rights. Business conduct is constrained not only by publicly enacted laws and regulations, the breach of which may be sanctioned by public authorities, but also by a plethora of written and unwritten rules that govern economic interactions in the market, including consumer preferences and State preferences as a consumer of businesses? goods and services. Self-regulation in the form of enterprise codes of conduct responds to those market incentives and can be fairly effective when certain conditions are in place. However, the ICJ and many other actors have been critical of the value of these initiatives as an effective tool for corporate accountability and have warned against over-reliance on them. As a form of regulation of business behaviour, self-regulation is not the focus of this report. Moreover, multi- stakeholder initiatives and codes of conduct as regulatory options have been mapped out during the work carried out by Professor Ruggie during his mandate as Special Representative. To undertake this work again would be duplicative and unnecessary. For the purposes of this report, it suffices to restate the general consensus that a mix of voluntary and regulatory approaches is possible and necessary when addressing business and human rights. The objective of this report is to identify gaps in international regulation that could justify the need for new international instruments. The report focuses only on those gaps that are: 1) of a normative character, in terms of defining the content and scope of international standards; or 2) relate to the effective implementation of those standards, including access to an effective remedy for victims of abuse. Significantly, most of those issues have already been effectively addressed in various ways by human rights advocates, scholars and jurists. The report aims at recommending options to address those normative and implementation gaps..."