The guidance will help companies identify and prevent potential negative impacts related to human rights, labour, the environment and corruption in garment and footwear supply chains worldwide. It offers comprehensive and government-backed recommendations to business that address risks they may face in both manufacturing and sourcing materials. The guidance provides a common understanding of supply chain due diligence for the garment and footwear supply chains in line with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The guidance recommends that enterprises take a collaborative and risk-based approach to identify ways to address impacts of its operations and sourcing decisions and monitor progress over time, while encouraging ongoing engagement with business partners in developing economies. It calls on buyers to embed social, human rights and environmental considerations into their purchasing practices, and collaborate with common buyers to avoid supplier audit fatigue, so that companies can direct their resources towards prioritising the prevention of more severe impacts.

The OECD and emerging economies worked closely with businesses throughout the supply chain, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and other experts to produce the guidance. It is a concrete response to the G7 Leaders’ Declaration adopted on 7-8 June 2015 in Schloss Elmau, which welcomed international efforts to “promulgate industry-wide due diligence standards in the textile and ready-made garment sector.