Suppliers and subcontractors in BSCI certification

Supplier/Sub-supplier

Entities in a company’s value chain that provide upstream products or services to the company (e.g., raw material suppliers, ingredient suppliers, semi-finished product suppliers, etc.).

Subcontractors

The business entity designated by the company to implement the value-added processes for all or part of the assembly process.

Interpretation:

In BSCI certification, subcontractors and suppliers are crucial to whether a factory can pass BSCI certification. Whether this problem can be solved well directly determines whether it can pass BSCI certification. To clarify this issue, we must first explain it from the following aspects.

1. Definition

The definition of supplier is: an entity in the company's value chain. It provides upstream products or services to the company (for example: raw material supplier, component supplier, semi-finished product supplier, etc.). Supplier is an entity in the factory's value chain and its upstream product or service. For example, for a garment factory, its fabric provider is its supplier.

In the BSCI glossary, the definition of a subcontractor is: a business entity designated by the company to implement the value-added process of all or part of the assembly process. In many factories that I have come into contact with, some factories complete all processes in their own factories, and these factories do not have any subcontractors. However, in some factories, due to lack of machines or various other reasons, some processes need to be completed with the assistance of other factories, so there is a subcontractor problem. Moreover, this subcontractor is an independent business entity, not a branch of the factory or an entity with other affiliated business relationships.

2. Establish procedures
In BSCI certification, the factory must mention whether it has suppliers in the BSCI certification assessment form. If there are suppliers, during the audit, the auditor will ask:

Has the company established and does the company maintain appropriate procedures to recruit subcontractors based on their ability to meet the BSCI social requirements? If yes, please describe. This requires the factory to establish reasonable procedures to require subcontractors to comply with the BSCI Code of Conduct.

3. Supervision and Inspection

It is not enough for a factory to simply establish relevant procedures to require its subcontractors to comply with the BSCI code of conduct, because the BSCI certification also requires the factory to form a limited supervision and inspection mechanism for its subcontractors and provide relevant evidence for review. For example, the BSCI certification mentions: Does the company maintain appropriate records of subcontractors commitments to social accountability, including, but not limited to the written commitment to conform to all BSCI social requirements? (Does the company maintain appropriate records of subcontractors' commitments to social accountability, including, but not limited to written commitments to: comply with all BSCI social requirements?)