18 Actual impact requires remediation (see Guiding Principle 22). Potential impact—or human rights risk—requires action to prevent it from materializing, or at least to mitigate (reduce) as far as possible the extent to which it may do so (see Guiding Principles 17–21 on human rights due diligence). Where some residual impact on human rights is unavoidable, this in turn requires remediation. Q 11. What should enterprises do if they are at risk of involvement in adverse human rights impact? The appropriate responses in these different situations are explored in some detail under Guiding Principle 19. In summary: (a) If an enterprise is at risk of causing or contributing to an adverse human rights impact through its own activities, it should cease or change the activity that is responsible, in order to prevent or mitigate the chance of the impact occurring or recurring. If an impact nevertheless takes place, the enterprise should engage actively in its remediation either directly or in cooperation with others (be it the courts, the Government, other enterprises involved or other third parties); (b) If an enterprise is at risk of involvement in an adverse impact solely because the impact is linked to its operations, products or services by a business relationship, it does not have responsibility for the impact itself: that responsibility lies with the entity that caused or contributed to it. The enterprise therefore does not have to provide remediation (although it may choose to do so to protect its reputation or for other reasons). However, it has a responsibility to use its leverage to encourage the entity that caused or contributed to the impact to prevent or mitigate its recurrence. This may involve working with the entity and/or with others who can help. GUIDING PRINCIPLE 14 The responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights applies to all enterprises regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership and structure. Nevertheless, the scale and complexity of the means through which enterprises meet that responsibility may vary according to these factors and with the severity of the enterprise’s adverse human rights impacts.