About the data
Methodology
In this question you are being asked to identify whether the company publicly discloses the external/third-party audit standard(s) they use. Start by looking for a description of if and how the company conducts supply chain audits or other forms of supplier assessment.
Where to look for this information:
- Corporate Social Responsibility report
- Company documents
- Company websites
- In Modern Slavery Statement or California Transparency Act disclosure
- Company code of conduct
- Parent company documents (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company policies (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company websites (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
- Parent company code of conduct (only if the parent company is linked to from the brands website)
Good keywords for your searches include:
- Audit
- Factory visit/Assessment
- Supplier Compliance
- Social Compliance
- Assessment
- Monitoring
- Measurement or Performance Standards
- Off-site interview
Things to watch out for:
- Good place to look for section 4 questions might be a company's Modern Slavery Statement or if they publish their Know The Chain response as well as their annual report.
- Facility-level assessment processes are typically audits
- We are specifically looking for the external or third-party standards that their supply chain partners will be assessed against or the tools that they use to conduct audits e.g. BSCI, Smeta, SAI/SAAS, WRAP, FLA, SLCP, Higg Index facility module.