OECD, Investment Committee, Risk Awareness Tool for Multinational Enterprises in Weak Governance Zones

Click here for the document.

The OECD Risk Awareness Tool for Multinational Enterprises in Weak Governance Zones [hereinafter “Risk Awareness Tool”] is designed to assist multinational enterprises investing in countries characterized by weak or non-existent government to handle an array of risks and ethical dilemmas not usually encountered in countries with stronger governance arrangements.
The Risk Awareness Tool was developed as part of the ongoing work of the OECD Investment Committee and supplements the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, a government backed code of conduct for international business widely used as a means of measuring responsible business conduct and OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
The framework for the Risk Awareness Tool was developed through an inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder partnership process involving representatives from 60 OECD and non-OECD countries. The Risk Awareness Tool sets out a range of questions for multinational enterprises to consider in such areas as obeying the laws and adhering to various international instruments and the legal obligations these impose, strengthening diligence in managing investments, assessing business partners, dealing with public sector officials, and reporting wrongdoing that may occur in their dealings. However, consistent with the objectives of the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Risk Awareness Tool is non-prescriptive. The Risk Awareness Tool was adopted by the OECD Council on 8 June 2006.