Certifications

SMETA 4 Pillar

Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit - 4 Pillar

The Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) Audit Protocol is the standard for inclusion in the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex). Sedex is a Global Membership Organization dedicated to driving improvements in ethical and responsible business practices in global supply chains. The SEDEX’s Social Auditing Methodology, based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code, which enables businesses to assess their suppliers, monitor health and safety of workers, and signal zero tolerance of human rights abuses such as child and forced labour. The Buyer may choose to request an audit of their supplier’s site after reviewing data from the supplier’s Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) responses, or their inherent risk score in the risk assessment tool. Based on this, the customers may request for a SMETA audit to be conducted for a business’ sites. SMETA uses the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code and the local law as its monitoring standards. It can be tailored to use with other codes based on conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The SMETA audits can be conducted against 2 or 4 auditing pillars. The SMETA 4-Pillar Audit comprises of Labour Standards and Health & Safety and these are mandatory modules for any SMETA Audit. The SMETA 4-Pillar Audit consists of all the elements of the 2 Pillar with inclusion of Environmental Assessment (detailed) & Business Ethics. SMETA’s vision is a world where all workers are free from exploitation and discrimination, and work in conditions of freedom, security, and equity. This audit helps provide visibility of best practices at site to the customer and provides an opportunity of Improvement in the form of Corrective Action Plan (CAPR) which can be used to improve working conditions, where the buyer and supplier can work together to address any issues, based on the Corrective Action Plan (CAPR).The validity of SMETA Audit is 1 year and renewal require an application to be made at least 30 days prior to expiration.