Commentary Ch. II Paragraph 15

For the purposes of the Guidelines, due diligence is understood as the process through which enterprises can identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their actual and potential adverse impacts as an integral part of business decision-making and risk management systems. The OECD due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct and OECD sector due diligence guidances help enterprises understand and implement due diligence recommendation of the Guidelines. They also seek to promote a common understanding among governments and stakeholders on risk-based due diligence for responsible business conduct. To that end, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct sets out a due diligence framework that governments have committed to actively support and monitor. It outlines the following measures: 1. embedding responsible business conduct into policies and management systems; 2. identifying and assessing actual and potential adverse impacts associated with the enterprise’s operations, products or services; 3. ceasing, preventing and mitigating adverse impacts; 4. tracking implementation and results; 5. communicating how impacts are addressed; and 6. providing for or co-operating in remediation when appropriate. It also suggests practical actions to implement these measures. Not every practical action mentioned in the due diligence guidance will be appropriate for every situation.