OECD - OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (the Guidance) is the first example of a collaborative government-backed multi-stakeholder initiative on responsible supply chain management of minerals from conflict-affected areas. Its objective is to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral sourcing practices. The Guidance is also intended to cultivate transparent mineral supply chains and sustainable corporate engagement in the mineral sector with a view to enabling countries to benefit from their mineral resources and preventing the extraction and trade of minerals from becoming a source of conflict, human rights abuses, and insecurity. With its Supplements on Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold, the OECD Guidance provides companies with a complete package to source minerals responsibly in order for trade in those minerals to support peace and development and not conflict.

The Guidance was developed through a multi-stakeholder process with in-depth engagement from OECD and eleven countries of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), industry, civil society, as well as the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC. Five multi-stakeholder consultations were held to develop the Guidance and its two Supplements, with four in Paris in December 2009 and April 2010 as well as May and November 2011. A joint ICGLR-OECD consultation was held in Nairobi in September 2010 where Brazil, Malaysia and South Africa were also represented. As a result, the Guidance is practically-oriented, with emphasis on collaborative constructive approaches to complex challenges.

The United Nations Security Council resolution 1952 (2010) [S/RES/1952(2010)] supported taking forward the due diligence recommendations contained in the final report of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, designed to be consistent with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.

The Guidance has been approved by the OECD Investment Committee and the OECD Development Assistance Committee, and has been endorsed by the eleven member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in the Lusaka Declaration, adopted on 15 December 2010.

An OECD Recommendation on the Due Diligence Guidance was adopted by Council at Ministerial level on 25 May 2011, amended on 17 July 2012 to include a reference to the Supplement on Gold and again amended on 25 September 2015 following approval by the Investment Committee and the Development Assistance Committee of changes to the Introduction to the Guidance. While not legally binding, the Recommendation reflects the common position and political commitment of OECD members and non-member adherents.

This third edition of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas provides clarification on the scope of the Guidance by removing language in the Introduction that was perceived to limit its application only to the supply chains of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. The updated edition now clarifies that the Guidance provides a framework for detailed due diligence as a basis for responsible supply chain management of all minerals.