Respect of human rights
As a responsible group, PPR requires that its products are manufactured in accordance with international labour standards. The Group thus gives preference to long-term partnerships, a guarantee of continuity and reliability, which form an integral part of a set of strict rules, in particular with regard to respect for human rights.
Supplier commitments
Pooling of knowledge
Social audit results
Supplier commitments
Since 2002, the Group has been ensuring that its suppliers respect human and labour rights by means of a policy focusing on three points:
1. Tools, with PPR’s Code of Business Practices, the supplier charter and social compliance audits carried out by independent experts
2. Local procurement and purchasing agencies
3. Active participation in the Social Clause Initiative
For their part, the companies are also making respect for human rights a key priority. Accordingly, Conforama successfully uses a “supplier manual” since 2005, detailing the criteria required to be listed under its sustainable development policy. This manual was circulated to all suppliers.
Pooling of knowledge
The Social Clause Initiative (ICS) is an organisation which brings together forty of France’s leading retailers who have undertaken, as part of a pragmatic and progressive approach, to encourage their suppliers to comply with the main agreements and recommendations from the ILO as well as labour regulations in emerging countries.
To achieve this, the member companies appoint external independent firms to conduct on-site checks of the reality of their suppliers’ working conditions by means of social audits. The information collected is fed into a database coordinated by the ICS, which allows members to exchange the results of social audits, while retaining the required confidentiality.
Common tools have been developed in order to improve social audit results: the ICS Code of Ethics, the Audit Manual, the Factory Profile, the Reference Audit Questionnaire, Execution Guidelines, the Corrective Action Plan and the Notification Alert.
Results of the social audits
With a view to continuous progress, the assessment criteria have been significantly raised with regard to suppliers. In 2006, 434 audits were thus carried out in 36 countries, with 73% of audits in Asia. The cases of non-compliance identified in the analysis of the audits primarily concern:
• Health and safety. On average, 53,8% of all cases of non-compliance identified at PPR’s suppliers. The most recurrent: inadequate emergency exits, absence of protection in front of the machines, a lack of toilets or an insufficient number of canteen places;
• 19.8% of cases reported include working hour violations (no day off during the week, excessive overtime, etc.).
When cases of non-compliance are identified, as part of the partnership policy that PPR is seeking to put in place with its suppliers and according to the protocol established by the ICS, corrective action plans are discussed with the factory managers in order to resolve these non-conformities as quickly as possible and continue the collaboration under the conditions set out in PPR’s Code of Business Practices.
In the event of a major case of non-compliance (child labour, forced labour…), a warning system was put in place since 2005: the Notification alert.
In this specific case, the measures put in place are more severe. Each time a case of non-compliance is detected, the manager responsible for the company’s social audits is notified. If the misgivings cannot be resolved rapidly or if the supplier does not undertake to change its practices within a reasonable timeframe, it is automatically removed from PPR’s panel of suppliers.
In 2006, 7 known cases of child labour were reported. These suspicions may be primarily due to the lack of documents proving the age of employees, the lack of governmental or parental work permits, the lack of medical certificates, the non-restriction of working hours for minors or even the non-restriction of workers below the legal working age. Six cases were finally dismissed due to the evidence provided by suppliers but one case was upheld.
In accordance with the PPR Code of Business Practices and the Supplier Charter, this supplier was immediately delisted by Redcats.
> Breakdown of cases of non-compliance by type in 2006* (as %)
* Breakdown of cases of non-compliance based on the eight section classifications of the SCI.