Supporting businesses in trade partner countries to meet social and environmental due diligence standards

Buyers and customers of businesses in trade partner countries increasingly expect them to demonstrate strong levels of environmental and social performance in response to due diligence policies and legislation introduced in other jurisdictions. It is important that policymakers designing, implementing and enforcing these policies and legislation consider their impacts on business in trade partner countries, particularly small and medium enterprises, and ways to support them and avoid unintended consequences (e.g. cascading cost, conflicting reporting requirements, capacity gap). This policy paper takes stock of some of the different ways governments can provide this support, and feeds into the work of the OECD Inclusive Platform on Due Diligence Policy Cooperation.