The central task on the agenda of the UNCTC was the drafting of the United Nations Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations (the Code of Conduct). Negotiations over the Code of Conduct were heavily policed by economically powerful actors  – the UNCTC didn't table a draft until 1983, nearly a decade after its establishment. Even then, the tabled draft bore the marks of the deep divisions between the Third World and the Western states where most transnational corporations were headquartered: unresolved issues were indicated with alternative provisions in square brackets, with the different formulations reflecting Third World and Western positions on whether national or international law should govern questions around corporate property, and whether international or national law should govern corporate conduct. Below is a list of documents relating to the drafting of the Code of Conduct:

• Intergovernmental Working Group on the Formulation of a Code of Conduct (1977)
• The 1983 Draft Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations.
• The Information Paper on Negotiation to Complete Code of Conduct (1983).
• The 1984 Draft Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations.
• Report on the Outstanding Issues in the Draft of the Code of Conduct (1984).