What is SA 8000?
- Released in October 1997, the Social Accountability 8000 (or SA 8000) Standard is the first global ethical standard.
- SA 8000 has been developed based on the conventions of the International Labour Organization, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child. It is applicable to all companies regardless of scale, industry and location
- Its objective is to ensure ethical sourcing and production of goods and services.
SA -8000 sets basic standards
for:
- Child labour;
- Forced labour;
- Health and Safety;
- Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining;
- Discrimination;
- Disciplinary practices;
- Working hours and compensation
Sedex is a membership organisation for businesses committed to
continuous improvement of the ethical performance of their supply
chains.
Sedex enables member companies to efficiently manage the ethical and
responsible practices of their global supply chains, generating
transparency through the provision of a data exchange.
The tool used by Sedex is named SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit). It incorporates 3 elements:
- A best practice guidance on conducting ethical trade audits,
- An audit report format and
- A corrective action plan format.
Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI):
BSCI was launched in 2003 as an initiative of the Foreign Trade Association (FTA).
Its founding was established as a response to the increasing business
demand for transparent and improved working conditions in the global
supply chain.
The BSCI provides a comprehensive process – auditing, qualification, re-auditing and the involvement of stakeholders to accompany and advise the project. Monitoring tasks are fulfilled mainly by the Members and the Executive Office. The BSCI is not a certification system.
