Kazakhstan's Policies Promoting Responsible Business Conduct

Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) principles and practices are recognised as an important part of the investment climate and therefore increasingly integrated within public and corporate policies aimed at attracting investment and enhancing sustainable development. Kazakhstan has not yet developed a comprehensive policy for promoting RBC and has not established a specific government institution in charge of these issues. Enterprises in Kazakhstan disclose information on social and environmental issues only on a voluntary basis, and market pressure for disclosure is weak. Corruption remains a serious challenge in Kazakhstan in a number of areas such as public procurement, use of subsoil resources and land and customs and tax administration. Kazakhstan’s development strategy has increasingly integrated environmental protection and sustainable development considerations, notably in the 2007 Environmental Code.