The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has announced that Sedex’s SMETA 7.0 audit methodology has been recognised by its Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI), providing companies with additional information to support their independent sourcing decisions.
SMETA 7.0 is the world’s most widely-used social audit for assessing labour, health and safety, environmental, and business ethics risks across supply chains, with more than 60,000 site-level audits conducted each year.
“As the world’s most widely used social audit platform, spanning 35 sectors in more than 180 countries, we are delighted to welcome SMETA 7.0 into the SSCI community of recognised schemes,” commented Didier Bergeret, director of sustainability, The Consumer Goods Forum.
Sedex has also taken actions to address previously identified gaps in SMETA 7.0, including updating documentation on human rights training; communicating human rights policies to business partners and other stakeholders; and mandating remediation and safeguarding of impacted workers, as well as requiring records of remediation actions.
‘Major milestone’
“I’m so pleased that SMETA 7.0 has achieved this major milestone,” added Jon Hancock, chief executive, Sedex. “The Consumer Goods Forum’s SSCI is a highly respected initiative that confers significant credibility on the schemes within this community.
“Being SSCI-recognised provides our customers and other stakeholders with powerful, independent validation on SMETA’s rigour, robustness and reliability.”
The recognition of SMETA 7.0 under the SSCI’s Processing and Manufacturing scope and the Primary Production scope confirms its alignment with the SSCI Social Compliance Benchmark.
By undergoing the SSCI Benchmarking Process, Sedex has demonstrated its ‘role in strengthening trust and embedding sustainability at scale’, the CGF noted.
SSCI recognition
To date, the SSCI has recognised seven schemes, with eight programmes currently undergoing the benchmarking process.
‘The SSCI recognises that auditing, monitoring and certification programmes are built upon solid certification processes and provide information about diverse sustainability best practices while preserving competitive choice,’ the CGF added.
The SSCI, established in 2019, provides consumer goods companies with information to support their independent and individually-made sourcing decisions, strengthen due diligence, and drive positive impact across global supply chains. Read more here.
