Supplier Contracts & Requirements as Responsible Engagement
Supplier requirements translate into policies, strategies, goals and behaviour at facilities that form the brand’s supply chains. Therefore, a brand needs to carefully reflect the language for requirements used and the requirements themselves if they trigger the desired outcome in a responsible manner. This is part of “Responsible Purchasing Practises” and “Responsible Contracting”, which are not only a matter of social sustainability/compliance, but also an important factor in forming our brand’s Roadmap to Zero.
Responsible Purchasing Practises
The Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices was developed in 2022 by part of the RPP Working Group (ETI, ET Norway, PST and Fair Wear).
The new Purchasing Practices HRDD Framework is a recommendation to accountability actors, such as policy-makers, regulators, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and investors, who want to strengthen their assessments of brands’ purchasing practices. It aims to align expectations from brands and foster consensus around what responsible purchasing looks like in practice, grounded in lived experience, built on international standards and tailored to the realities of the sector.
Responsible contracting
The Responsible Contracting Project (RCP) Toolkit contains practical and versatile tools that companies can use to improve the human rights and environmental performance of their contracts and, by extension, their supply chains. It includes modular model contract clauses, a code of conduct, implementation guidance, and policy analysis.
The model clauses are due diligence-aligned contracting templates that are in sync with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct.