BSCI’s New Code of Conduct From Compliance to Good Business Practice

Stakeholders at the Heart of BSCI

Supporting a Successful Business Model The world is changing and businesses are dealing with global and highly competitive markets as never before. Companies are increasingly conscious that long term success depends on economic as well as social and environmental performance. An important aim of BSCI is to help companies to prepare for these future markets as well as for societal expectations for greater transparency. The new BSCI Code of Conduct for good working conditions has been developed to support participating companies in preparing for these challenges. The new BSCI Code of Conduct is based on our strong belief that compliance with all applicable legal requirements and international norms related to working rights is not only an obligation but rather an opportunity for our participants to strengthen their business long term. Our commitment to good working conditions is an important way for participants to mitigate and protect their reputation. Additionally, it maximises efficiency by reducing costs, improving productivity and developing strategic management within supply chains.

The culture of responsible entrepreneurship ultimately aims at ensuring commercial success in the long term and shared values with all stakeholders.

BSCI is a business-driven initiative. The new BSCI Code provides a powerful reference point to support participants and their business partners towards integration of social responsibility at the core of their business.

The BSCI Code was revised through an extensive and inclusive consultation process including BSCI participants, NGOs, labour organisations and a number of different actors. The online process lasted for more than a year and involved hundreds of stakeholders from all over the world, from different industries and sectors. The result, the new BSCI Code of Conduct, empowers every actor in the supply chain to improve working conditions in factories and farms worldwide. It also underlines the positive role that stakeholders can play and strengthens the dialogue between businesses and stakeholders.

The result is a code that formally affirms our understanding of successful responsible entrepreneurship.

“The new BSCI Code of Conduct brings the development approach which the organisation and its participants strive towards, to the next level. With the coming implementation tools, the scope of these principles will be elaborated on. The Code also incorporates various new elements that reflect recent developments in the field of corporate responsibility, including the dialogue around fair and living wages and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Through discussions in the BSCI Stakeholder Council, as well as through an open consultation process, stakeholder input was taken into account during the revision process.” Marieke Weerdersteijn, Chair of BSCI Stakeholder Council (Solidaridad).

BSCI was established in 2003 by the Foreign Trade Association (FTA) in order to avoid duplication of monitoring efforts and create consistency and harmonisation for companies to improve social compliance in global supply chains. With a decade of experience, BSCI has established a holistic framework for social compliance within the supply chain. Supported by this central framework, our participants take on the task of continuously improving labour conditions, and assume the responsibility of cascading social compliance throughout the entire supply chain.

BSCI is based on three fundamental pillars:

MONITORING BSCI provides participants with a methodology to measure the compliance of producers against the BSCI Code of Conduct and to evaluate improvements.

CAPACITY BUILDING BSCI empowers participants and their producers through workshops and training programmes to raise awareness of good working conditions, and to provide issue-specific knowledge, thus enabling sustainable improvements in factories and farms.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT BSCI manages active dialogue and cooperation with governments, business associations, buyers, suppliers, trade unions and NGOs, in order to find sustainable solutions to often complex labour challenges.

Principles of the New Code of ConductThe new BSCI Code of Conduct reflects the latest developments within supply chain relations and the growing call for responsible business practices. The BSCI Code draws on important international labour standards protecting workers’ rights such as International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions and important declarations of the United Nations (UN), as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises and the UN Global Compact.

The principles of the new BSCI Code of Conduct are more comprehensive than those of previous versions. While they still call on producers to comply with national laws and ILO Core Conventions as a minimum, two principles have been added: Ethical Behaviour and No Precarious Employment. Ethical Behaviour states that implementation of the BSCI Code should include collecting and communicating accurate information regarding the company’s activities, structure and performance, and countering corruption. No Precarious Employment asks producers to make sure workers have documented contracts or that there is documentary evidence of a working contract in compliance with national law, and are provided with information about their rights.

The 11 principles of the Code of Conduct that BSCI participants commit to implement in their supply chains are:

THE RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

DECENT WORKING HOURS

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

NO DISCRIMINATION

FAIR REMUNERATION

PROTECTION OF YOUNG WORKERS

NO PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT

NO BONDED LABOUR

PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

ETHICAL BUSINESS BEHAVIOUR

NO CHILD LABOUR

Most substantial modifications to the BSCI principles. For more information, see the comparison between the Code 2009 and the Code 2014.

Social Responsibility at the Core of Business Implementing the new BSCI Code of Conduct is based on the belief that good working conditions are a precondition to sustainable, reliable and efficient supply chains that will benefit business over the long term.

Rather than focusing on the monitoring aspect alone, BSCI participants are requested to take a holistic approach to their responsibility and to cascade the opportunities that lie in responsible behaviour through to the different actors in the supply chain.

AIMING AT THE HIGHEST LABOUR PROTECTION All BSCI participants as well as their business partners and producers, are first and foremost obliged to comply with domestic laws. In countries where domestic laws and regulations are in conflict with, or set a different standard of protection than the BSCI Code of Conduct, the goal is to abide by the principles that provide the highest protection to workers.

Full observance of the BSCI Code is a process that takes considerable time, resources and effort; gaps, shortcomings, failures and unpredictable occurrences will always remain possible. Nonetheless, BSCI participants strongly commit to the early detection, monitoring and remediation of all such occurrences in their supply chains and remain open to constructive engagement with stakeholders.

FOSTERING SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AT ALL LEVELS Purchasing activities present possibilities for influencing social changes in supply chains. BSCI participants acknowledge their capacity to leverage that opportunity. They manage their relationships with all business partners in a responsible way and expect the same in return. This requires a cooperative approach where every business enterprise:

1. Involves its business partners by requesting the endorsement of the Terms of Implementation.

2. Takes all reasonable measures in its sphere of influence to implement the BSCI Code.

3. Exchanges information to identify any challenge that requires mitigation.

ASSESSING RISKS The new BSCI Code of Conduct emphasises the importance of using risk assessment as a general principle of corporate action. It means an approach based on enterprise risk management systems, policies and processes to prevent and address adverse human rights impacts detected in the supply chain. The new BSCI Code recognises the importance of developing corporate duties of care where risk assessment is inadequately carried out and requires remediation. The BSCI Code clearly states that this proactive approach should be supported by constructive engagement with stakeholders.

BUILDING ON WORKERS’ INVOLVEMENT Involving workers in information exchanges on workplace issues is an essential part of good management, as well as taking steps to make workers aware of their rights and responsibilities. In addition, business enterprises should build sufficient competence among employers, managers and workers in order to embed these practices in their business operations. Continuous education and training throughout the organisation is an essential tool, particularly regarding Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). In short, the building up of mature industrial relations between workers and management is key for sustainable businesses.

BSCI participants are guided by the following values:

WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK! Should you have any questions or remarks with regards to the content of this brochure or in relation to the revised BSCI Code of Conduct, either from yourself or your business partners, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

For more information about the new BSCI Code, consult our website: www.bsci-intl.org or send us an email at info@bsci-intl.org

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT BSCI participants undertake to implement the BSCI Code of Conduct in a step-by-step development approach. BSCI participants expect their business partners to ensure the continuous improvement of working conditions within their organisations.

COOPERATION By working together, BSCI participants will have a greater impact on working conditions in the supply chain. The value of cooperation is equally important in the relationship with business partners in the supply chain, particularly those that need support in order to improve. The spirit of cooperation is also essential in the relationship between business and stakeholders.

EMPOWERMENT A central aim for BSCI is to empower participants and their business partners to develop their supply chains in a way that respects human and labour rights as well as to provide business units in the supply chain with the tools needed to improve working conditions in a sustainable manner. The development of internal management systems plays a critical role in bringing BSCI principles to the heart of business enterprises’ culture.