Overview#
Due diligence is a structured way to find, prevent and account for risks in a supply chain. Rather than a one-off check, it is an ongoing process of looking into where materials come from and what harm might sit behind them. The risks in scope range from conflict minerals to human rights abuses and environmental damage.
The point is to know your chain and act on what you find, then be able to show what you did.
The OECD framework#
The OECD Due Diligence Guidance sets out a step-by-step approach that most schemes follow. A company builds a management system, identifies and assesses risks in its chain, designs a response, has the work checked, and reports on it. The five steps give a shared language that regulators and buyers recognise.
Due diligence is about process, not a guarantee. The duty is to look properly, act on what you find and document it, even where you cannot prove a chain is entirely clean.
The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation turns this approach into a legal duty for importers of 3TG ores and metals (above set volume thresholds), not for downstream product makers. The findings often flow through supply chains alongside a material declaration.