The Principles for Responsible Contracts (‘PRC’) 1 recognize the relevance and applicability of international human rights law (‘IHRL’) to the negotiations of contracts between states and business investors. They also explicitly state that they should be ‘read in conjunction with the [UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights or UNGP] and implemented with due regard to the obligations of States set out in international human rights law’. In alignment with relevant international frameworks 1 UN Human Rights Council, Principles for responsible contracts: Integrating the management of human rights risks into State–investor contract negotiations – Guidance for negotiators, 25 May 2011, reflected in the UNGP, therefore, the PRC recognize states as the primary duty bearers when it comes to preventing, mitigating and redressing adverse human rights impacts of non-state actors, including business investors. Equally, the PRC acknowledge the parallel and intersecting responsibility of business investors in managing human rights risks at the contract negotiations stage as well as throughout the project cycle. This is particularly important when the investment relates to longer-term projects with significant social, economic and/or environmental risks, or that involve the depletion of natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable). Thus, the PRC are a key element of the complementary toolkit provided with the UNGP for states to discharge their duty to protect and for business investors to meet their responsibility to respect. In providing targeted guidance, the PRC focus specifically on the steps that both negotiating parties to a state-investor contract must take to prevent business-related adverse impacts in the course of their projects. PRC 1 is of fundamental importance in this respect as it foregrounds the need for preparation and planning, for disclosure, as well as for having or accessing the capacity to address a project’s human rights implications during contract negotiations. As discussed in this chapter, although these needs have been widely acknowledged by states and business investors alike, there is still a long way to go to ensure that their approach in negotiations aligns with the requirements of PRC 1, and of the UNGP more broadly as discussed in this edited collection.