of the impact of their activities, companies should do, with the participation of local communities, human rights impact assessments and ensure that these assessments are appropriately consultative and take account of the rights of vulnerable persons and groups. 59. Where breaches occur on account of the activities or actions of companies, various administrative, civil and criminal responsibilities ensue. Where activities of extractive industries result in despoliation of the environment, they bear responsibility for paying due compensation to affected people for all material and non-material damages suffered, including compensation in the case of irreparable harm to health, and for the cleaning and rehabilitation of the affected environment.27 In administrative terms, they will be responsible for any fines or administrative measures laid down in law or in the licensing agreement. 60. In terms of criminal liability, the kind of acts for which companies may be held responsible are, for example, laid down under the AU Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, adopted during the June 2014 AU summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (the Malabo Protocol).28 These acts include: a) Concluding an agreement to exploit resources, in violation of the principle of peoples’ sovereignty over their natural resources; b) Concluding with State authorities an agreement to exploit natural resources in violation of the legal and regulatory procedures of the State concerned; c) Concluding an agreement to exploit natural resources through corrupt practices; d) Concluding an agreement to exploit natural resources that is clearly one-sided; e) Exploiting natural resources without any agreement with the state concerned; f) Exploiting natural resources without complying with norms relating to the protection of the environment and the security of the people and the staff; and g) Violating the norms and standards established by the relevant natural resource certification mechanism. 38 |  African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights