Build ethical supply chains with Sedex SMETA
Drive sustainable business practices across your business ecosystem
In a world where business operate across countries and continents, ensuring ethical, socially responsible and sustainable business practices across each link in the supply chain is paramount. In addition, companies also need to understand the social, environmental and labour-related impact of their as well as their suppliers’ operations. One of the most widely used methods to conduct an ethical audit of supply chains is the Sedex SMETA framework. Through these audits, we can help you understand and comply with international labour, sourcing and operational regulations and requirements.
We assist UAE and India businesses in international labor compliance through Sedex SMETA audits. Choose 2-pillar or 4-pillar audits for Sedex certification, unlocking benefits like legal compliance, SEDEX-Approved supplier status, and global expansion opportunities.
What is SMETA?
SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) is a methodology developed by Sedex (the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), to assess ethical and responsible practices in supply chains. It helps a company understand whether its own or its suppliers’ operations adhere to international laws and regulations. It also helps identify issues related to labor standards, discrimination, overwork, forced labor, child labor and/or other unsafe, unethical or inhumane practices.
A SMETA audit helps companies and suppliers demonstrate their compliance and commitment to transparent, ethical and sustainable practices, cementing their reputation with partners and customers, and avoiding any supply chain disruptions due to non-adherence to international laws and regulations, which can lead to legal action and/or fines from governments.
The 4 pillars of SMETA
The SMETA audit methodology focuses on four key pillars:
In general, companies can opt for a 2-pillar or 4-pillar audit. The 2-pillar audit assesses only labour standards and health and safety, whereas the 4-pillar assesses all of them.
Benefits of having a Sedex certification
To assess a business’ operational effectiveness, Sedex uses its own framework, SMETA. Once you pass a SMETA audit to become a Sedex member, you get various benefits, such as:
- Compliance with legal, contractual, and regulatory requirements
- Being recognised as a socially compliant organisation
- Getting SEDEX-Approved supplier status
- Being included in the SEDEX Directory
- Opportunities to expand your business internationally through export
- Reduced Workload and increased employee engagement
How to implement Sedex SMETA in your organisation
Below are the steps we will undertake to conduct the SMETA audit and get you enrolled with Sedex:
First, we will determine the specific SMETA audit requirements applicable to your organisation.
Our expert consultants will conduct a thorough assessment of your current practices and compare them against the SMETA criteria to identify gaps and areas for improvement. As needed, a Corrective Action Plan will also be created to help bridge any gaps.
As required, we will arrange for and provide special training to relevant personnel to ensure they understand the SMETA requirements, objectives, and the importance of ethical trade practices.
We will then develop all the necessary documentation, policies, and procedures that will ensure you are aligned with SMETA requirements. We will also guide you to implement these practices across your operations and supply chain.
We will conduct internal audits to assess the effectiveness and compliance of the implemented processes, which will help us to identify any non-compliance issues or areas needing improvement.
We will guide you on how you can complete and submit the self-evaluation form in the Sedex platform, which will detail all the information about your company, operations and suppliers.
We will next complete the audit of your processes and supply chain in line with the SMEA framework. This will evaluate your compliance with social responsibility standards.
After the audit is completed, we will generate a complete report detailing the findings, corrective actions, and improvements made. The same will then be submitted to the Sedex platform to demonstrate that you are complying with and adhering to SMETA standards.