Activities and Information Formats of the Austrian National Contact Point (NCP)

This Brochure on Deforestation and Due Diligence in Agricultural Supply Chains (PDF, 522 KB) (in German) was published by the Austrian NCP, the German NCP and the Swiss NCP. It summarises the key content of the OECD-FAO Business Handbook on Deforestation and Due Diligence in Agricultural Supply Chains. It offers practical guidance for companies of all sizes along global agricultural supply chains and is intended to assist in avoiding deforestation and forest degradation.

The OECD-FAO handbook is based on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, in particular the recommendations on risk-based due diligence as set out in the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and the OECD Guidance on Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct.

This joint publication aims at providing practical support to companies in the DACH-region (Germany-Austria-Switzerland region) in implementing due diligence along agricultural supply chains. The intention is to make the OECD-FAO recommendations more accessible and to help companies effectively prevent deforestation and forest degradation.

Following the latest update of the OECD Guidelines in June 2023, the Austrian NCP published the brochure OECD Guidelines - Aktualisierung 2023 (PDF, 444 KB) (in German), which highlights the key changes.

Since their introduction in 1976, the OECD Guidelines have been updated several times to maintain their relevance despite social, economic and environmental changes. The 2023 update is not a complete reissue, but rather targeted revisions to all chapters of the Guidelines.

Key changes include:

• Recommendations for enterprises to align with internationally agreed goals on climate change and biodiversity
• Recommendations for risk-based due diligence on the development, financing, sale, licensing, trade and use of technology, including gathering and using data
• Recommendations on how enterprises are expected to conduct due diligence on impacts and business relationships related to the use of their products and services
• Better protection for at-risk persons and groups, including those who raise concerns regarding the conduct of businesses
• Updated recommendations on disclosure of responsible business conductinformation
• Expanded due diligence recommendationsto allforms of corruption
• Recommendations for enterprises to ensure lobbying activities are consistent with the Guidelines
• Strengthened procedures to ensure the visibility, effectiveness, and functional equivalence of National Contact Points on Responsible Business Conduct

In 2022, the Austrian NCP published the practical overview Focus on Human Rights (PDF, 4 MB) (in German) to provide practical support to companies in implementing human rights due diligence obligations.

In view of global supply chains, the global influence of companies and thus their societal responsibility is growing. Business activities can have both positive and negative impacts on human rights, with the risk of negative impacts being particularly high when local governments fail to fulfil their obligation to protect human rights.

Chapter IV of the OECD Guidelines is explicitly dedicated to human rights. The OECD Guidelines require companies to respect and protect human rights and to prevent or mitigate potential and actual adverse impacts on human rights. In the event of an actual negative imapct on human rights, companies should provide remediation. Companies are also expected to carry out human rights due diligence.

In 2021, the Austrian NCP published the bochure Due Diligence Compact (PDF, 389 KB) (in German), which is intended to provide a practical overview of due diligence implementation in the contect of the OECD Guidelines.

The OECD Guidelines recognise the positive contribution of responsible business conduct to sustainable developent and set out recommendations on how to prevent and mitigate negative impacts of business activities. Furthermore, companies that integrate due diligence into their risk management processes are more resilient and better able to respond to any crisis in the supply chain. In recent years, due diligence processes have increasingly become the focus of regulations at both national and EU level.

As a practical guide, the OECD published a Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct in 2018. This brochure by the Austrian NCP is intended to provide a concise summary of the OCED Guidance and an overview of the due diligence process.