SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit)
Auditing the supply chain for compliance with labor and social standards and business ethics can have a significant impact on compliance with human rights and is an important tool to help identify risks.
SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) is a widely recognized global social compliance scheme. SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) is an online platform that allows companies to maintain data about their ethical and responsible practices and enables them to share this information with their customers. Through SEDEX, ethical and social audit information is shared and reported. The SMETA enables businesses to assess the risk to supplier working conditions, as well as identify opportunities for improvement and make changes in relation to labour, health and safety, the environment and business ethics throughout the supply chain. With a social audit, companies demonstrate their commitment to human rights and worker health and safety. SMETA is used in two directions: by buyers to evaluate suppliers and by suppliers to improve their social responsibility, meet social standards and enhance the company's reputation. On the one hand, buyers use SMETA as a criterion when selecting suppliers to ensure that they meet certain social standards. On the other hand, suppliers can use SMETA as a tool to self-assess and improve their social responsibility practices.
The latest version of SMETA, SMETA 6.1, was updated in May 2019.
Scope
SMETA is developed to provide the framework for conducting ethical and social trade audits. Audits can be carried out on 2 or 4 audit pillars – the key areas in which an organization's social responsibility is assessed. By providing guidance for two types of audit, SMETA allows individual supply chains to choose the requirements that best suit their needs and objectives.
SMETA audits can be based on:
- 2 pillars:
- Labor standards and;
- Health and safety.
- 4 pillars:
- Labor standards;
- Health and safety;
- Environment (extended assessment);
- Business Ethics.
SMETA audits are carried out by an independent third party – by companies or organizations approved by Sedex.
Basic documents
SMETA consists of four main documents that support audits. They can be used by any auditor or audit organization, including those who are not members of the SEDEX organization. But an audit can only be called a "SMETA audit" if it is carried out using the criteria set out in the following documents:
- SMETA Best Practice Guidance - A guide to best practices
- SMETA Measurement Criteria - Measurable criteria
- SMETA Audit Report - Audit report
- SMETA Corrective Action Plan Report (CAPR) - Corrective Action Plan Report.
How is the SMETA audit conducted?
The SMETA audit proceeds as follows:
- Opening meeting.
- Document review – auditors check the organization's existing processes and systems against the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) core code and local laws.
- Site audit – auditors conduct an audit of the company's site to see the working conditions on site. They check for dangerous working conditions, overtime, discrimination, low pay and forced labor conditions enshrined in International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. The team audits the following areas: wages, right to work, working hours, health and safety at work, temporary workers, provision of rest time, fair treatment of staff.
- Meeting with management and interviews with workers.
- A closing meeting, which also includes providing a corrective action plan report.
What are the benefits of SMETA Audit?
- Auditing provides supply chain visibility into social and ethical issues.
- Suppliers can share audit reports with their customers, reducing the likelihood of duplicate audits and saving time, money and resources.
- Suppliers signal to their customers that they have zero tolerance for human rights violations such as child and forced labor and that they comply with legal labor standards.
- SMETA provides a corrective action plan to help address any issues that may arise.
- SMETA audits do not contradict management system standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, SA8000, etc.) or sector standards (BRCGS, IFS Food, FSSC 22000, CLOBALG.A.P., etc.) and can to be conducted in parallel.
SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit)
Implementation of management standards
CONSEJO EOOD is a consulting company formed by a team of consultants with over 15 years of experience in management systems in the field of international standards. The focus of the company is the provision of consulting services in the development and implementation of management systems that meet the requirements of international standards for quality, the environment, safe working conditions, information security, good production practices based on international standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 27001, IFS Food, HACCP and others.
The CONSEHO team has participated in the realization of projects in all branches of the economy. The projects implemented by the CONSEHO team are over 1000, in the fields of production and design, construction, trade, information and communication technologies, transport and forwarding, hotel and restaurant industry, special production, energy, design, food industry, services, etc. The company has established a strict procedure for monitoring the compliance with the agreed requirements with the clients, both the terms of the contracts and the quality of service performance. The established working style of the company consists of developing real management systems together with our customers, on the basis of conducting multiple trainings and providing full assistance in the implementation process. Through its approach to work, CONSECO ensures and guarantees trouble-free certification of the built systems in extremely short terms.
