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Definition

OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct are government-backed, voluntary recommendations that ask enterprises to use risk-based due diligence to prevent and address adverse impacts on people, the environment, and society.

What are the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct?

The Guidelines are recommendations from adhering governments, not a certification or standalone law. They cover human rights, labour, environment, disclosure, corruption, consumers, technology, competition, and taxation. Chapter II, paragraph A.11 asks enterprises to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for actual and potential adverse impacts.

Why do the OECD Guidelines matter to you?

A customer or investor may ask which OECD Guidelines provisions your due diligence follows and what records support the answer. Alleged non-observance can be raised as a specific instance with a National Contact Point (NCP), a government-established body that serves as a non-judicial grievance mechanism. Send more than a policy: show the impacts you identified, the action you took, and what changed.

How do the OECD Guidelines work?

The OECD's due diligence guidance turns the Guidelines into six steps: embed responsible business conduct in policies and management systems; identify and assess impacts; cease, prevent, or mitigate them; track results; communicate how impacts are addressed; and provide or cooperate in remediation, which means putting harm right where appropriate. If you cannot address every impact at once, prioritise by severity and likelihood. Record owners, actions, deadlines, input from affected people, and results.

What mistakes should you avoid?

  • Treating the Guidelines as a pass-fail certification or legal compliance statement.
  • Checking only direct suppliers when products, services, or other business relationships may be linked to an impact.
  • Listing risks without action owners, deadlines, progress records, or remediation where needed.

Are the OECD Guidelines legally binding?

No. Observance is voluntary, but domestic law may regulate the same matters, and a contract or buyer policy may create a separate requirement.

Do the OECD Guidelines apply to smaller companies?

Adhering governments encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to follow them as fully as their capacity allows. A customer request can still make a focused response commercially necessary.

What should you send when someone asks about alignment?

Send the relevant policy, the list of impacts you assessed and prioritised, the action log with owners and deadlines, records of discussions with affected people, any steps taken to put harm right, and the latest review of results. State which entities, operations, suppliers, and other business relationships the evidence covers.

Example

Hypothetical UAE facilities-services company: Suppose the company screens 12 cleaning and maintenance subcontractors. It prioritises three for deeper assessment: one has a two-month gap in worker wage records, one handles concentrated cleaning chemicals without instructions in the workers' main language, and one has no confidential route for workers to raise concerns. The company records why each potential impact is severe or likely and who may be affected.

It assigns an owner and deadline to each case, checks the facts with the subcontractor and affected workers, and chooses a response based on its involvement and ability to influence the subcontractor. It reconciles the wage records with payroll and worker accounts, pauses chemical work until instructions and training are in place, and requires a confidential reporting route. It then records whether each response prevented or addressed harm and whether any further remediation is needed. This evidence shows a due diligence process; it does not produce an OECD compliance score.

Where it comes up

OECD Guidelines risk-based due diligence and business-relationship impacts2023 OECD Guidelines, Chapter II, paragraphs A.11-A.15Official sourceOECD Guidelines environmental management and due diligence2023 OECD Guidelines, Chapter VI, paragraphs 1-2Official sourceNational Contact Point specific-instance process2023 OECD Guidelines, Part II Procedures, section I.COfficial source

Related terms

Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

Corporate sustainability due diligence is an ongoing, risk-based process for finding and addressing harm to people or the environment connected to a company's operations and business relationships.

EU Taxonomy eligibility vs alignment

An EU Taxonomy-eligible activity is described in a delegated act; it is aligned only if it substantially supports an environmental objective, avoids significant harm, meets minimum safeguards, and passes the applicable technical screening criteria.

ILO fundamental Conventions

The ILO fundamental Conventions are ten international labour standards covering freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced labour, child labour, discrimination, and a safe and healthy working environment.

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights set out the state duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect them, and access to remedy for people harmed by business activity.

Sources

  • OECD

    Voluntary status, scope, risk-based due diligence, environmental recommendations, and National Contact Point procedures

    2026-08-20

  • OECD

    Six-step due diligence process and practical implementation guidance

    2026-08-20

Last verified 2026-08-20

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OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct Definition | Keslio