Chapter 3 - Report of the Research and Policy Development Group • The State should enforce laws aimed at, or which have the effect of, requiring plantation and logging companies to respect human rights; it should periodically assess the adequacy of such laws and address any gaps. • The State should ensure that other laws and policies governing the establishment and operations of plantation and logging companies – such as corporate law – do not constrain but enable respect for human rights. • The State should take appropriate steps to ensure – through judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate means – that those affected by human rights violations in the plantation and logging industries, in particular IP, should have access to effective remedy. • The State should offer tax incentives, corporate grants or other monetary reliefs to plantation and logging companies that respect human rights standards, while encouraging them toward voluntary compliance. • The Commission recognises that plantation and logging companies have to be profitable, but notes that they should also respect human rights. In turn, this would promote the economic, social and cultural rights of the people. Therefore: °° Human rights should be incorporated into business strategies and operations. Shying away from such responsibility may lead to loss of confidence among consumers, who are becoming more conscious of the importance of human rights. They are no longer just interested in product quality, but are also concerned about the social and environmental conditions behind the brand and production process. The corporate sector in Malaysia should embrace human rights values boldly in the interests of sustainability. °° Plantation and logging companies must develop a code of best practice/conduct so that they can map out aspects that require improvement. This would minimise the risk of violating the human rights of parties affected by their operations, including IP. (ii) Impact of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) on human rights in Malaysia Principle 9 of the Guiding Principles requires the State – while providing investor protection – to retain adequate policy and regulatory ability to safeguard human rights when negotiating investment treaties, free trade agreements or contracts for investment. The Commission has been monitoring the negotiations on the TPPA to ensure that the Government puts in place safeguards as envisaged under of Principle 9. As reported in the Commission’s Annual Report 2012, a major source of dissatisfaction among interest groups has been the lack of public consultation. During the year under review, however, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) took a positive step toward redressing this. On 1 August, it organised an open day to explain the rationale of Malaysia’s participation in the TPPA negotiations and to obtain feedback. 85