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Transnational corporations (TNCs), also sometimes called multinational corporations (MNCs), also are playing an increased role in the development of international law. TNCs are commercial entities whose interests are profit-driven. Transnational corporations lobby states and international organizations in a manner similar to NGOs, with the hopes of having their interests protected under international law. Many of the same doubts related to NGO accountability and legitimacy can also be raised in the context of TNCs.
For these reasons, the UN has sought both to regulate and to work with TNCs. At the Millennium Forum in May 2000, a proposal was put forth to regulate TNCs; a Draft Code of Conduct on TNCs has now been under review and debate by various UN bodies for years, with no results. TNCs also have been sued in U.S. courts for violating international law in the way they effect the human rights of people in countries where they operate.