Not every requirement is about the product. Increasingly the question is how the goods were made, and by whom – and the request arrives from your own customer.

What social accountability means

Evidence that goods were made under acceptable conditions: no forced labour, no child labour, lawful hours and wages, safe premises, freedom of association. It is asked for as an ethical audit, a code of conduct, a supplier declaration, or a modern slavery statement.

It comes with names attached

SMETA, amfori BSCI, SA8000, and the retail codes that sit behind them. Your customer may name the one their own customer requires, and the names are not interchangeable. Each has its own scope, its own scoring, its own expiry date and its own idea of what a passing grade looks like.

Where the request comes from

Usually not from you, and usually not about you. It comes from your customer, because their customer, their bank or their own regulation requires it. The demand travels down the chain, and every link is asked to prove something about the link above it.

The trap, and it is a real one

The straightforward way to answer is to hand over the file: the factory’s name, its address, its audit report, its certificates. Consider what that means. You are giving your customer a complete description of your supplier – to a company that could approach that supplier directly and buy from them without you.

Most buyers would never do it. But the buyers who ask most insistently are not always the ones who would not. This is the point where a compliance request stops being paperwork and becomes a question about your business.

It is reasonable to say so plainly, and to answer the question without answering it in that form.

There is a way to satisfy both

What is being asked for is evidence about conditions, not your supplier’s identity. Those two things can be separated, and separating them is part of what we do. What does not work is handing over the supplier file and hoping the relationship holds afterwards.

It is going to be asked more often

Due diligence legislation, forced labour import bans and buyer codes are all moving the same way. What was once a question reserved for large retail brands is now put to smaller suppliers, and to their suppliers in turn. A business that can answer it cleanly wins the order from one that cannot.

How we help

We take the request, work out what will genuinely satisfy it, and supply the evidence your customer needs without handing them your supply chain.