I write in response to the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) note expressing concern about my next report to the UN General Assembly in October 2015. The report – whose tentative working title is “Getting Down to Business: a comparative survey of enabling environments for businesses and associations” – will explore the disparate treatment by governments and the international community of businesses and civil society...I must admit that I am surprised they keep harping on the same issues despite my clarifications. Given their apparent concern, I am also surprised and disappointed that they have not responded to my invitation (contained in the letter linked above) to attend the consultation I am holding in May to help research the report. That would be a good way to get an inside look at what we are trying to achieve. I am disappointed because I believe that ITUC has seriously (deliberately?) misconstrued the purpose of my report. As is clear from our public call for information, the report will be a comparison of how businesses are treated on the one hand, and civil society organizations on the other. There are differences, and in my experience civil society often gets the short end of the stick in these situations – often without any solid basis in reason or law. This observation is what helped crystallize the idea for this report and the purpose of the questionnaire is to get facts and information about this....