Social Compliance

The Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) was founded in Brussels on 26 March 2004. Under the overall umbrella of the Foreign Trade Association (FTA) it is supported by European companies from various industries (food, non-food, etc.). The initiative has been recognized by the relevant EU commission since the early phases of its development and since 2005 has also received active support in the form of EU development funding. The Charles Vögele Group has been an official member of the FTA since 1 January 2004, but was already working with the Association on developing the Business Social Compliance Initiative in 2003. As a founding member, the Charles Vögele Group thus played a significant role in putting the BSCI into practice.

The BSCI Code of Conduct is based on the principle that companies producing goods for Charles Vögele must follow all the laws and regulations that apply in their home country. There are also detailed contractual stipulations covering the environment, discrimination, forced labour, child labour, working hours, wages, working conditions, employee accommodation and freedom of assembly. These comply with the International Labour Organization‘s Conventions (ILO), the United Nations‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on Children‘s Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The new rules, which continue to form a fixed part of Charles Vögele‘s supplier contracts, demand compliance with minimum social standards as laid out in the social standard SA8000.

Advantages of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)

Many of the BSCI‘s 62 member companies have signed up to this initiative even though they had previously worked with their own codes of conduct, each of which differed slightly from the others. The aim of the initiative is to avoid duplication in the auditing of suppliers that work for several producers. BSCI members have agreed on the joint BSCI Code of Conduct, which is also based on the Conventions of the International Labour Organization and which forms the basis for auditing. Audits are carried out using a uniform questionnaire formulated to reflect SA8000 guidelines. The data thus acquired is recorded centrally in the BSCI database and then made available to all members. This procedure creates a rational, uniform platform for auditing and helps manufacturers and their clients save valuable resources. The BSCI has also created a two-stage accreditation process based on SA8000. In the first stage, compliance with an extensive range of minimum social standards is checked. This forms the basis for the second stage: certification under SA8000, though this certification is not itself part of the BSCI.

This step-by-step approach responds to the fact that in practice many smaller and medium-sized manufacturers have previously been put off trying to achieve SA8000 certification because it is so difficult to do so all at once. The BSCI will give small and medium-sized businesses a chance to undergo audits of compliance with min-imum social standards. BSCI audits are conducted by independent third-party firms with SAI accreditation.