Six civil society and research organizations have now filed a complaint against Bayer with the German National Contact Point of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Based on extensive research and interviews with affected communities in the four countries, the complaint documents specific cases that show the negative impacts of the GM soy agribusiness model in areas where Bayer markets its products.

Since its merger with Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has become a major force in the global pesticide and seed market. In South America, home to the world’s 10 largest soybean producers, the company benefits from the steady increase in agricultural land use for soybean cultivation and earns multimillion dollar revenues from the sale of toxic glyphosate-based pesticides and the genetically modified soybean seeds that are resistant to them. Bayer's agricultural model leads to serious environmental impacts and human rights violations that affect the local populations, in particular indigenous and rural communities. Forests are cut down to make room for soy plantations, important biodiversity is lost, food supplies are threatened, drinking water is polluted, and land conflicts are intensified.

In April 2024, four civil society organizations from South America, the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) from Argentina, Terra de Direitos from Brazil, BASE-IS from Paraguay, Fundación TIERRA from Bolivia, together with Misereor and ECCHR, filed an OECD complaint against Bayer. The allegation: by not complying with its human rights and environmental due diligence obligations in the sale of soybean seeds and toxic pesticides, Bayer is violating the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and contributing to adverse impacts in the four Latin American countries.

According to the OECD Guidelines, corporations are expected to respect internationally recognized environmental and human rights standards throughout their global value chains. These include abstaining from contributing to adverse impacts on the right to health, food, land and a healthy environment. With the complaint, the organizations are calling on Bayer to comply with its due diligence obligations to prevent and mitigate human rights violations and negative environmental impacts associated with the distribution and use of its products in the four countries. Moreover, the complainants argue that the company should provide redress in cases where it has contributed to actual adverse impacts. According to the current interpretation of the German supervisory authority, the Federal Office for Export Control (BAFA), such risks are not covered by the German Supply Chain Act. However, the OECD Guidelines do establish due diligence obligations for the downstream value chain, in particular for foreseeable negative consequences of product use.

The OECD National Contact Point has three months to decide on the admissibility of the complaint and thereby facilitate mediation between the affected parties and the company. The organizations expect Bayer to respond to the complaint and actively take part in finding solutions for the identified problems.
 

South America has experienced a major boom in soy cultivation and exports in recent decades, which has developed hand in hand with a high level of corporate concentration in the industrial food system, with Bayer at the forefront. Today, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia are among the 10 largest soy producers in the world and cultivate on average more than 50% of their agricultural land with soy. The complainant organizations have been working for several years in the four countries with local communities directly affected by the agricultural model promoted by Bayer. Specific cases from the communities listed in the complaint serve as examples of systematic environmental and human rights violations in areas where Bayer markets its products.

Land is the most important resource for intensive soy cultivation in the region, leading to increasing expansion into the territories of indigenous and peasant communities and deepening socio-territorial conflicts. Apart from threatening their traditional way of life, the right to self-determination over food systems is also being restricted, while dangerous health risks and impacts are rampant throughout the region. Furthermore, soy cultivation is linked to the deforestation and degradation of some of the world's most important biomes in the region, such as the Atlantic Forest, the Gran Chaco and the Chiquitania. In this context, this agricultural model not only affects the right to a healthy environment of local communities, but also threatens the ability of natural ecosystems to adapt to climate change. 

According to the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and the OECD-FAO Handbook on Deforestation and Due Diligence in Agricultural Supply Chains, which are intended to guide the implementation of the OECD Guidelines in the agricultural sector, the abovementioned impacts constitute “red flags” or “high risks,” particularly in the context of soy cultivation. This means that companies operating in these areas, including Bayer, should exercise heightened due diligence to ensure that their products are not associated with actual or potential adverse impacts. Despite its dominant market position and the foreseeability of these impacts, Bayer has failed to adequately integrate these risks and adverse impacts into its due diligence processes and business activities.

In this complaint, ECCHR supports the organizations in their fight for human rights and the protection of the environment in the agribusiness sector and advocates for German companies, such as Bayer AG, to account for their actions and the negative impacts resulting from them. Since 2016, ECCHR has addressed violations in the global distribution of pesticides by supporting civil lawsuits filed by affected people in Yavatmal, central India, and by submitting an OECD complaint, together with affected people and additional civil society organizations, against the Swiss company Syngenta. In October 2016, ECCHR also filed a complaint against Bayer with the Plant Protection Service of the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia for violations of export regulations in relation to pesticide distribution in India.