Table 3.

Selected aspects of OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 1976–2011.

Topic	Year	Primary location in Guidelines	Example text
Environment	1976	General policies	MNEs should “give due consideration to [Member] countries’ aims and priorities with regard to economic and social progress, including industrial and regional development, the protection of the environment, the creation of employment opportunities, and promotion of innovation and the transfer of technology” (OECD 1976c).
	1984	General policies & commentary	“Recognizing the importance of environmental issues, and their relationship to [MNEs], …the General Policies chapter provides room to accommodate further relevant questions that might arise. …The Committee intends to address these important issues in its future work” (OECD 1986, p. 22).
	1990	Chapter	MNEs should “avoid creating environmentally related health problems…assess, and take into account…foreseeable environmental and environmentally related health consequences…provide adequate and timely information regarding potential impacts on the environment and environmentally related health aspects” of all their activities and “minimize the risk of accidents and damage to health and the environment” (OECD 1993, p. 40 ).
	2000	Chapter (expanded)	MNEs should, “[c]onsistent with the scientific and technical understanding of the risks, where there are threats of serious damage to the environment, taking also into account human health and safety, not use the lack of full scientific certainty as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent or minimise such damage” (OECD 2008, p. 20)
	2011	Chapter (expanded slightly)	MNEs should “continually seek to improve corporate environmental performance, at the level of the enterprise and, where appropriate, of its supply chain, by…encouraging such activities as development and provision of products or services that…reduce greenhouse gas emissions” (OECD 2011, p. 43).
Consumer interests	1976	None
	1984	General policies & commentary	MNEs should “give due consideration to [Member] countries’ aims and priorities with regard to economic and social progress, including industrial and regional development, the protection of the environment and consumer interests, the creation of employment opportunities, and promotion of innovation and the transfer of technology.” (OECD 1986)
	1990	General policies & commentary	No changes from 1984 text
	2000	Chapter	“When dealing with consumers, [MNEs] should…ensure that the goods or services they provide meet all agreed or legally required standards for consumer health and safety, including health warnings and product safety information labels…[and] cooperate fully and in a transparent manner with public authorities in the prevention or removal of serious threats to public health and safety deriving from the consumption or use of their products” (OECD 2000a).
	2011	Chapter (expanded)	MNEs should “cooperate fully with public authorities to prevent and combat deceptive marketing practices” (OECD 2011, p. 51).
Sustainable development	1976	None
	1984	None
	1990	None
	2000	Preface, General Policies & Environment chapters	MNEs should “[c]ontribute to economic, social and environmental progress with a view to achieving sustainable development.” (General Policies) (OECD 2008, p. 14).
	2011	Preface, General Policies, Environment, & Science and Technology chapters	“The Guidelines aim to ensure that [MNE] operations…are in harmony with government policies, to strengthen the basis of mutual confidence between enterprises and the societies in which they operate, to help improve the foreign investment climate and to enhance the contribution to sustainable development made by [MNEs]” (Preface) (OECD 2011, p. 9).
Human rights	1976	None
	1984	None
	1990	None
	2000	General Policies	MNEs should “respect the human rights of those affected by their activities consistent with the host government’s international obligations and commitments” (OECD 2008, p. 14).
	2011	Chapter	MNEs should “respect human rights,…avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts,…seek ways to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their business operations, products or services,…[and] provide for or co-operate through legitimate processes in the remediation of adverse human rights impacts where they identify that they have caused or contributed to these impacts” (OECD 2011, p. 33).