OECD GUIDELINES FOR MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES

Conference on “Corporate Social Responsibility for Competitive

Entrepreneurship”

Responsible Business for a Better Live

7 November 2013, Riga

By Mari-lou Dupont, Legal Consultant

- Context: A new global agenda

- OECD Guidelines overview

- Unique implementation mechanism

- Conclusion

AGENDA

- New global Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) agenda

- Baseline expectations are now clearer than ever

- Unique position of the Guidelines

CONTEXT

• A set of recommendations addressed by governments to multinational enterprises operating in or from adherent countries

• The only government-backed recommendations for responsible business conduct in existence today

• Reflect good practices for all

WHAT ARE THE GUIDELINES?

• 45 countries– OECD members plus 11 non-OECD members:

Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Peru, Romania and Tunisia

– Applications from Jordan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Serbia are being considered and Russia is on an accession path to the OECD

• Representative of all regions of the world

• Account for large majority of global investment

ADHERENTS TO THE GUIDELINES

COMPREHENSIVE: 11 CHAPTERS

Human Rights

Employment and Industrial

Relations

Environment Combating Bribery, Bribe Solicitation

and Extortion

Consumer Interests

Science and Technology

Competition Taxation

New

Not covered by any other RBC instrument

Concept and Principles

General Policies

Disclosure

1. Recognizing positive contribution

2. Avoiding adverse impacts and addressing them when they occur

Risk-based due diligence

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

• New prospective dimension added in the 2011 Update

- Helps enterprises and stakeholders identify and respond to risks of adverse impacts in business operations

• Proactive Agenda projects:

1. Project chaired by Netherlands on due diligence in the financial sector

2. Project on responsible investment in agricultural supply chains

3. Project chaired by Canada (in co-operation with Norway) on stakeholder engagement and due diligence in the extractive sector.

PROACTIVE AGENDA

- Implementation mechanism through National Contacts Points (NCPs)

- NCPs main responsibility is to further the effectiveness of the Guidelines

Undertaking information and promotion activities;

Contributing to the resolution of issues that arise in the implementation of the Guidelines in specific instances;

Reporting on their activities.

WHAT MAKES THE GUIDELINES UNIQUE?

SPECIFIC INSTANCE PROCESS

• More than 300 considered since 2000– 60 new specific instances since update

• Trends: – Human rights, labour and

environment predominant issues– Most frequently cited sectors: Mining

and Quarrying, Manufacturing and Financing

– Large number of issues brought up by NGOs

– Non-adhering countries (50% in 2013)

– Stakeholder engagement and Indigenous Peoples in developing countries

SPECIFIC INSTANCES

CSR or RBC Strategy

Code of Conduct Values Charter

Code of Ethics

CONCLUSION

Business

Principles

Outreach

NCP peer learning

Global Forum on Responsible

Business Conduct in 2014

FUTURE WORK

• Initial focus on Central Asia and South Caucasus

• Concise, one-stop guidance for governments, investors and civil society to better understand the existing RBC expectations.

“RBC In”… publication series

THANK YOU !