The second phase of the HRCA requires Eni to turn its attention to the operational realities, carrying out self assessments of the potential risks of violating human rights or of complicity in violation by individual subsidiaries.

Every self assessment is preceded by intense research aimed at examining the national context and, in particular, the standards of protection and respect of human rights in force in the country, based on what the most authoritative international organisations and associations report. These assessments are then used to adapt the process in potentially critical areas and to carry out meticulous inspections of those aspects that potentially could require attention.

Every self assessment requires carrying out around ten meetings for each operational area, during which the participants examine the practices adopted, the learning processes developed during the operations carried out in the field and the actions that are currently being implemented. Up to the present time, around 40 managers from the Procurement, HSE, Human Resources, Security, Legal Affairs and Community Relations departments have enthusiastically agreed to share the challenge, the questioning and the results achieved in relation to respecting Human Rights in the operational context. 

In 2008, two pilot projects were carried out, one in Nigeria , in Lagos, in November and the other one in  Kazakhstan , at the KPO structure at Aksai, in December.
These projects were also used to test the validity of the methodology in relation to Eni's operational reality. At the end of the experiments, Eni collaborated with the Danish Institute for Human Rights in revising the tool and those aspects that could be improved, in order to adapt it to the special needs of the business and to optimise the organisation of a process that is necessarily complex and elaborate since it involves the entire company structure.

In 2009, three self assessments were carried out in Algeria , at the Eni structure and in Egypt , at the IEOC structure, in May and October respectively, and in the Republic of the Congo in December.

In all countries the Project produced a great deal of interest among the various company personnel involved. The opportunity to test HRCAs in situations that are so different from each other has made it possible to observe the way the areas of risk change according to the different cultures, regulations and operational aspects of the business, while from another point of view it was surprising to see how totally different contexts can be characterised by a company culture that is consistent in the values it promotes, in particular for the attention it places on people and the environment.

At the end of every self assessment a report is drawn up that covers the areas  where attention is necessary and the suggestions made by the Danish Institute for Human Rights. This document represents an authoritative starting point for the elaboration and implementation of a plan for improving the specific operational situations.