Auditing According to BSCI

Systematic Evaluation of Social Supply Chains

Promoting socially acceptable production conditions is the declared objective of the Business Social Compliance Initiative, or BSCI for short. With a BSCI audit you express a strong commitment to fair working conditions in supply chain countries. You can show your customers and partners that your company doesn't just talk about principles of corporate social responsibility, or CSR, but lives it too. At the same time, you avoid costly multiple audits and provide an excellent foundation for future SA 8000 certification. Save time and money

Benefits at a Glance

With a BSCI audit by TÜV Rheinland you can:

  • Open up new marketing opportunities
  • Set the foundation for future trade relations
  • Boost customer and partner confidence
  • Set an example for fair production conditions

Five Steps to more Corporate Social Responsibility

Our experts analyze and assess your processes and systems. In five steps:

1. Audit Preparation

Prior to the audit, we ask each production site to fill in the BSCI self-assessment questionnaire. This gives the auditors a first impression of your factory. We will then send you a list of all of the documents we require during the audit - either in your language or in English. We also need a signed "consent form" where you authorize us to take pictures of the production site, conduct confidential interviews with employees, save the results in a database, and send the report to BSCI members.

2. On-Site Audit

We conduct the audit on-site at your facilities. We determine if the work complies with the guidelines of the BSCI code of conduct and check if there are gaps in the fulfillment of the requirements of the SA 8000 social management standard. The audit begins with an kick-off meeting, to explain the aim and structure of the test. Our inspectors then inspect the site, including the shopfloor, dormitories, and cafeteria, interview executives and other employees, and check all of the documents. At the end of the audit, a final meeting is held.

3. Registration and Entry in the BSCI System

After the audit you will receive a written report in English with the test results - including images of your plant. The test results are then entered inthe BSCI Database, so other BSCI members can see that you are now successfully BSCI certified.

4. Renewal of Certification

Should our staff find out during the audit that some conditions have not been met, you are obliged to implement the required corrections as quickly as possible. We will then how effective your measures are during a new on-site audit. We will also document the results of that investigation in the BSCI Database.

5. Repeat Audit after 3 Years

Your entry in the BSCI system remains valid for three years. With a repeat audit, you can extend your certification for a further three years.

Fair Working Conditions, Environmentally-Friendly Production

In accordance with the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the BSCI standard requires:

  • Compliance with all applicable national laws
  • Freedom of assembly and the right to collective bargaining
  • Ban on any form of discrimination
  • Compliance with the statutory minimum wages and living standards
  • Commitment to a maximum working week of 48 hours, with restricted overtime
  • Clear rules and procedures for health and safety at work
  • Ban on child labor
  • Ban on forced labor and disciplinary measures
  • Compliance with the minimum requirements for waste management, emissions, and wastewater treatment
  • Compliance with minimum requirements for handling chemicals and other hazardous substances

The First Step to SA 8000 Certification

The Business Social Compliance Initiative encourages suppliers to go beyond the minimum requirements of the BSCI Code of Conduct and to get certified in line with the SA 8000 international social management standard. This will automatically qualify your company for the BSCI system, because the SA 8000 norm contains all the requirements of the BSCI Code of Conduct and is fully recognized by the BSCI. The SA 8000 certificate is also valid for three years. In this time, we check compliance with stipulations in semi-annual re-audits.