An analysis of 200 of the world’s biggest corporation has found that 95 are unable to prove they are taking action to protect and improve human rights for their direct employees, supply chains and the communities they serve. Edie Sustainability News
Numerous reports show that many organisations are challenged by the legal reporting requirements of new forced labour and modern slavery legislation (e.g. the UK Modern Slavery Act (section 54), the Australian Modern Slavery Act, the Non-Financial Reporting Requirements). Demonstrating that there is a robust slavery and forced labour due diligence process in place is onerous and time consuming. Efforts to identify the parts of the businesses or supply chains where there is risk of slavery or forced labour is frequently insufficient.
About Track Record Global and ARDEA International
Track Record Global (TRG) and ARDEA International (AI) are acknowledged international technical experts in environmental, social and governance requirements. With over 15 years’ experience, TRG is an established provider of risk-based due diligence systems for health and safety compliance of consumer products. TRG’s supply chain risk assessments for natural resources including timber, cotton and leather are regarded as among the best in the industry.
AI is well established as international legal experts and consultants in sustainability, business and human rights with expertise in modern slavery. The company has been established for over 10 years with clients ranging from small organisations to FTSE 50 clients.
About our new service
TRG / AI are jointly launching a new online due diligence service for businesses legally required to demonstrate forced labour/modern slavery due diligence as part of their mandatory reporting requirements. The due diligence service is based on proven and established processes, but can also be tailored to include specific corporate social requirements.
The service will:
- Provide a tailored risk assessment to businesses wanting to independently assess their suppliers and supply chains; or be assessed themselves
- Determine the inherent level of risk of modern slavery/forced labour in any organisation and/or its supply chain(s)
- Demonstrate the organisation’s effectiveness in taking steps to combat the risk of modern slavery/forced labour from its business or supply chains
Deliverables
TRG/AI will provide:
- Management of the due diligence process (data collection and storage, risk mitigation, corrective actions) tailored to modern slavery/ forced labour risk
- An assessment of the forced labour / modern slavery risk in the operations of the organisation to determine if they are low, medium, or high inherent risk based on a number of indicators, not just country risk or sectors
- Assessments will feed into mandatory due diligence reporting requirements that can be tailored to be country specific
- Access to all the datasets and documentation on which the risk assessment decision is based
- Identification of corrective actions required to reduce the assessed risk levels to Low
- Management, monitoring and reporting on the close out of the corrective actions
How customers will benefit:
- Save time with consistent risk assessments available online
- Demonstration of due diligence processes to meet legal requirements
- Easy access to mitigating documentary evidence – reducing the administrative burden
- Impact on their continuous business improvement processes
- Resolve the limitations of a supplier audit-only based programme
- Competitive pricing: charges are guaranteed to be cheaper than an in-house or third party solution
How does the due diligence service work?
The TRG / AI risk assessment process is based on a comprehensive question set, aligned with the reporting requirements of modern slavery legislation. Each question is linked to an item of mitigating documentary evidence. The level of inherent risks is derived from answers to a set of initial questions. These determine the range and depth of questions that need to be answered. Significantly the combined expertise of TRG and AI will manage the process to ensure that risk mitigation measures are in place to provide comfort to clients that they will be able to demonstrate a robust due diligence process. The service also will help identify when onsite audits may or may not be needed thereby saving clients the costs of only undertaking audits.
Additional Support
Additional support services can be offered to the organisation to ensure that the data can be used to meet mandatory or voluntary due diligence legal reporting requirements (country specific) or to provide the basis of further bespoke training and strategic and legal support.
FREE Webinar: Supply Chain Due Diligence
You should join this FREE webinar, on Wednesday 19 May, 12-30-1.30pm BST (London), to learn how the new Ardea International / Track Record Global online online modern slavery due diligence service will support your human rights reporting requirements, help you manage your supply chain risks, and to hear why DFS Group PLC is piloting the model, their learnings and the outcomes.