This session will open with the launch of the 2025 Annual Report on the activity of National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct (NCP), illustrating NCPs’ impact, evolution, and emerging opportunities based on trends and data from NCP Activity. This report presents and analyses the 2025 activities of NCPs, the national agencies tasked with supporting all actors – companies, governments and stakeholders – in implementing responsible business conduct. Stakeholders will be invited to share their perspectives on the report and their expectations for NCPs going forward.

This symposium will be introduced by experts from different fields and backgrounds, who will reflect on the role of NCPs within the broader RBC landscape, to help frame a forward-looking vision for NCPs in driving responsible business conduct. This will be followed by a discussion with the audience.

Opened by the Secretary-General of the OECD, this opening plenary will set out the role of responsible business conduct (RBC) in a global economy marked by multiple transitions. The session will consider the outcomes RBC should deliver for societies in response to mounting pressures from geopolitical competition, technological transformation, and escalating planetary crises. As governments consider how to protect the integrity of open and competitive markets, the session will set out how RBC can be used as a policy tool to improve resilience, offer predictability for business, and help navigate trade, technology, economic security, and industrial policy considerations. Format: Following the initial interventions, Ministers will be invited to provide insights and comment on key issues.

This roundtable discussion will shift the focus from diagnosis to action. It is widely acknowledged that responsible business practices require a supportive, efficient, and coherent policy ecosystem: an enabling policy environment that simplifies and streamlines expectations on business, incentivises leadership, avoids a race to the bottom, and promotes predictability and fair competition. The discussion will explore what incentives, capabilities and enabling policy environments are needed for responsible leaders to succeed - and for others to follow - and provide guidance on where international co-operation is needed the most in order to support this development. These company perspectives will be complemented by insights from delegates, trade unions, and civil society during the roundtable discussion to help surface what is working in practice, what is not, and why - across different sectors and geographies. The discussion questions include: • What is the role of RBC in overall corporate strategy? How is RBC helping resilience and competitiveness? • What are the most important factors for achieving success? What happens when due diligence works and what are the barriers for achieving RBC objectives? Format: This session will be a moderated roundtable discussion with multiple rounds of discussion. Following insights from business leaders, participants will be invited to provide their reflections and comment on key issues.

The briefing session will present key findings from the 2026 OECD Responsible Business Outlook – Making Commitments Count the first global stock take of responsible business policies and practices. The briefing will highlight key policy and regulatory trends across countries and provide data on the uptake of responsible business due diligence by the ten thousand largest globally listed companies. The briefing will be following by Q&A.

Since their adoption in 1976, the OECD Guidelines have underlined the importance of international co-operation to promote Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), including with non-OECD economies and developing countries. This session will bring together governments, businesses and stakeholders from across regions to reflect on experiences in promoting and implementing RBC standards. What has worked? What challenges remain? And what should be the priorities for international co-operation on RBC in the years ahead? To explore these questions, the session will offer a cross-regional dialogue where governments and stakeholders from OECD countries and beyond can share their experiences and perspectives. Sparked by short “firestarter” interventions, participants will first reflect on achievements and challenges and share lessons learned. A second segment will focus on the way forward: identifying priorities for international co-operation on RBC and how the OECD can best support these efforts.

This roundtable discussion will shift the focus from diagnosis to action. It is widely acknowledged that responsible business practices require a supportive, efficient, and coherent policy ecosystem: an enabling policy environment that simplifies and streamlines expectations on business, incentivises leadership, avoids a race to the bottom, and promotes predictability and fair competition. The discussion will explore what incentives, capabilities and enabling policy environments are needed for responsible leaders to succeed - and for others to follow - and provide guidance on where international co-operation is needed the most in order to support this development. Following the lead interventions, delegates, participants, and institutional stakeholders, will be invited to provide insights in line with the following discussion questions: • What is the single biggest missed opportunity in RBC policy today? And what could actually make a difference? • What actions are needed from policy makers to incentivise and enable responsible behaviour and leadership, and create positive outcomes for people and the planet? Format: This session will be a moderated roundtable discussion with multiple rounds of discussion. Following initial insights, participants will be invited to provide their reflections and comment on key issues.

The institutional stakeholders to the OECD Working Party on RBC – Business at OECD (BIAC), The Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD, and OECD Watch – represent businesses, workers, and civil society organisations across the globe. This stakeholder-driven plenary session will present the specific views of these three stakeholders as well as their common priorities and requests. A first panel discussion by practitioners will reflect on the past 50 years of implementing the Guidelines and share lessons for the future. A second panel discussion will highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement at the OECD and the priorities of business, labour and civil society for the OECD’s work on RBC. Governments in the room will be invited to engage on the perspectives across stakeholder groups and to consider how the OECD can carry these priorities forward. Format: Discussion by high-level representatives from business, civil society, and worker representatives followed by a moderated discussion with policymakers and other participating experts and stakeholders

Governments play a key role in supporting the effective implementation of responsible business conduct by providing an enabling policy environment, creating incentives, and exemplifying it in their own activities. The new OECD RBC Policy Navigator features examples of government policies and practices to promote and enable responsible business conduct. The OECD RBC Policy Navigator seeks to support governments in implementing the 2023 Recommendation on the Role of Government in Promoting Responsible Business Conduct by providing access to diverse country examples. This dynamic session presents the new OECD RBC Policy Navigator, including its features and use cases. Countries and stakeholders share how the RBC Policy Navigator can serve to enhance the policy environment for RBC by building on examples from the community of practice on RBC.

Sustainability initiatives, including industry and multi-stakeholder schemes that provide standards, tools, capacity building, monitoring or verification to support responsible business practices, play an increasingly important role in helping companies implement due diligence across supply chains. OECD research has mapped more than 1,000 such initiatives globally, many with long-standing operations, local relationships, and adapted standards in trade partner countries. Yet the perspectives of those countries on initiative effectiveness and impact remain underrepresented in international policy discussions. Drawing on findings from the OECD Due Diligence Readiness project, supported by the European Commission's DG INTPA, this session will present evidence on both the potential and the limits of initiatives as due diligence multipliers. A short OECD presentation will be followed by a moderated discussion centering trade partner country policymakers and stakeholders. Discussions will feed into the afternoon breakout sessions, contributing trade partner country perspectives on risk-based approaches, interoperability, and avoiding unintended consequences in due diligence implementation. More information on registration will follow.