OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

Definition

The OECD Guidelines are a set of voluntary recommendations for multinational enterprises to which the 30 OECD member countries and nine non-member countries have committed to follow and promote. The OECD guidelines provide an action agenda for a wide range of company obligations encompassing employment, labor relations, human rights, the environment, information disclosure, combating bribery, consumer interests, science and technology, competition, and taxation.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued the guidelines in 1976 to address economic, social and governance issues relating to corporate globalization. The guidelines have been revised and modified several times in subsequent years to address new issues have arisen regarding corporate globalization and the need to regulate international corporate responsibility. The OECD published its most recent version in 2000

with major revisions broadening the scope of the guidelines to include recommendations for eradicating child and forced labor, protecting human rights, enhancing environmental performance, and improving the transparency of social and environmental information disclosure. Although the guidelines are not legally binding, OECD member countries and several adhering countries have committed to promote the guidelines among multinational enterprises, set up National Contact Points (including governmental agencies) and work in partnership with businesses, labor unions, NGOs and others to realize and promote the objectives *1.