• rights and environmental due diligence. Benchmarking due diligence against national requirements is difficult, given the difficulties of obtaining copies of existing or emerging legislation, and could result in benchmarking against out-dated laws. Due diligence should also cover risks that business relationships pose to human rights (see Table 4 below). While all companies – international and local – operating in the sector, including suppliers, have their own standalone responsibility to respect human rights, they must also assess and address the impacts business partners cause that are directly linked to their operations, products or services. 45 Business Relationships in the ICT Sector in Myanmar Companies will need to carry out careful due diligence on the background, ownership, policies and practices of potential business partners, including whether they are, or have been, subject to any current or former US sanctions lists involving Myanmar. 46 As many of the larger Myanmar companies are involved in other sectors, it will be relevant to look across operations to understand how they conduct their business in those other sectors. Finding the right business relationships in Myanmar will therefore require enhanced due diligence throughout the life of the particular relationship: • • • • • Before entering into the relationship: Carry out due diligence on business partners and their policies and practices for addressing environmental, social, human rights impacts and corruption; including identifying directorships in other companies held by business partners. Documenting the terms of the relationship: Include contractual requirements on meeting relevant international standards. Supporting the relationship: Provide advice, training, and capacity building on how business partners or entities in the value chain should responsibly conduct themselves. A relationship provides the opportunity to promote better corporate governance and share policies and practices on managing environmental, social and human rights impacts. 47 Monitoring the relationship: Include requirements ranging from self-assessment and reporting, visual inspections, to third party monitoring, depending on the business relationship’s level of risk. Ending the relationship: Include provisions to escalate and permit termination of the contract if for example there are findings or credible allegations of severe human rights violations or failure to take the required corrective actions. 45 UN Guiding Principle 11, Commentary: “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations.” 46 See: http://www.treasury.gov/ofac/downloads/prgrmlst.txt and an overview of current US sanctions: http://burma.usembassy.gov/sanctions-overview.html 47 See, IHRB, “State of Play: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in Business Relationships” (Dec 2013). CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 51 1