Supplier's reporting obligation
Reporting obligation
According to the contract clause, you are obliged to report severe deviations in your own operations and in the supply chains if you have reasonable grounds to assume that such are occurring or have occurred. Forced labour, child labour, working conditions that pose a danger to life, serious environmental harm, grand corruption, and attacks on environmental and human rights defenders are severe deviations.
Excerpt from the contract clause
If Supplier has reasonable grounds to assume that a severe deviation is occurring or has occurred in its own operations or supply chains, Supplier shall within [two (2)] weeks report the actual circumstances and the implemented and planned measures in accordance with sections 2.1 - 2.7, to [contracting organisation].
Severe deviations refer to forced labour, child labour, working conditions that pose a danger to life, serious environmental harm, grand corruption and attacks on environmental and human rights defenders. The severe deviations are defined in annex 1: Supplier Code of Conduct.
What is a severe deviation?
The severe deviations are defined in the Supplier Code of Conduct.
Excerpt from the code of conduct
Forced labour, child labour, working conditions that pose a danger to life, serious environmental harm, grand corruption and attacks on environmental and human rights defenders are severe deviations.
Serious environmental harm is defined as damage caused by polluting activities that have a severe adverse impact on people, water areas or ground water, species and habitat.
Grand corruption is defined as involvement in bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence, abuse of functions, illicit enrichment, laundering of proceeds of crime, concealment or obstruction of justice:
a) as part of a scheme that involves a high-level public official, and
b) that results in or is intended to result in:
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a gross misappropriation of public funds or resources, or
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grave or systematic violations of the human rights of a substantial part of the population or of a vulnerable group.
Forced labour and child labour are described in sections 2.2 and 2.3 of the code of conduct.
Excerpt from the code of conduct
2.2 Employment is freely chosen
a) There is no forced labour, bonded labour or involuntary prison labour.
b) Workers are not required to lodge “deposits” or their identity papers with their employer and are free to leave their employer after reasonable notice.
Excerpt from the code of conduct
2.3 Child labour shall not be used
a) There shall be no new recruitment of child labour. Child labour is any kind of activity or work which is harmful to the intellectual, physical, social and moral development of persons under 18 and undermines their education, preventing them from going to school, constraining them to abandon schooling too soon or requiring them to work and study at the same time.
b) The employer develops or participates in and contributes to policies and programmes which provide for the transition of any child found to be performing child labour, to enable him or her to attend and remain in education until he or she is no longer a child.
c) A worker under 18 may nonetheless have the right to work if he or she meets the age requirements for the type of work in question:
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For general work, the minimum age is 15.
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For non-hazardous work, the minimum age may be temporarily set at 14 in countries whose school-leaving age is lower than 15.
d) Persons under 18 shall not be employed at night or in hazardous conditions.
Working conditions that pose a danger to life and attacks on environmental and human rights defenders are not defined in the Supplier Code of Conduct. Below are circumstances to consider.
What does reasonable grounds to assume mean?
Reasonable grounds to assume means that there is good reason to suspect a severe deviation. Such information may emerge through audits, civil society and research institutions, or media coverage.
Below are examples of situations where suppliers, if the current contract clause had been in effect, would have had reasonable grounds to assume that severe deviations were occurring.
What does the reporting obligation cover?
You shall report the actual circumstances and the implemented and planned measures in accordance with sections 2.1–2.7 of the contract clause, i.e. the process requirements. This means that you shall:
Investigate what constitutes an actual circumstance. This includes paying special attention to particularly vulnerable groups and, if possible, consulting in a meaningful way with affected rights-holders.
Cease activities that cause or contribute to the severe deviation, if it occurs in your own operations or if you contribute to it in your supply chains.
Establish and follow up action plans to prevent and mitigate the severe deviation, if possible in meaningful consultation with affected rights-holders or their representatives.
Promote purchasing practices that do not make it difficult for the sub-supplier to comply with the commitments, if the severe deviation occurs in the supply chains.
Enable affected rights-holders, their representatives and environmental and human rights defenders to make complaints related to the severe deviation.
Establish and implement remediation plans, if you have caused or contributed to the severe deviation. If you are only linked to the severe deviation you should develop a plan for how you will use your leverage to get the party that caused or contributed to the severe deviation to remedy it.