The progressive development of the international agenda on business and human rights generated the necessary conditions to establish an open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group by the United Nations Human Rights Council, whose task is the development of a legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises in international human rights law. The progress of the round of negotiations between the different stakeholders allowed the publication of the Zero Draft of the treaty on business and human rights in July 2018 and the Revised Draft of the treaty in July 2019. This article makes a critical analysis of the advances and challenges of the treaty process and the key elements of the future instrument. It also reflects on the relevance of this instrument in contemporary international law.   Received : 24 June 2019  Accepted : 02 November 2019  Published online : 20 diciembre 2019