Our standards

Supply Chain Principles

The Group’s Supply Chain Principles are based on and aligned with many international human rights codes and standards, including the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises; the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy and the published base code of the Ethical Trading Initiative.

Our Principles are as follows:

Principle 1: We do not employ any person below the age of 14 or 15 (depending on the country) or below the legal minimum age (where this is higher) in the countries in which we operate.

Principle 2: We do not use forced labour in any form (prison, indentured, bonded or otherwise) and staff are not required to lodge papers or deposits on starting work.

Principle 3: We comply with all applicable local environmental, safety and health regulations. We provide a safe and healthy workplace, presenting no immediate hazards to our staff.

Principle 4: Within the customs and practices of the countries in which we operate*, we do not discriminate against any worker on any grounds (including race, religion, disability, or gender).

Principle 5: We do not engage in or support the use of corporal punishment or mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse.

Principle 6: We provide each employee with at least the minimum wage or the prevailing industry wage (whichever is higher) and provide each employee with all legally mandated benefits.

Principle 7: We comply with the laws on working hours in the countries in which we operate.

Principle 8: We comply with all relevant environmental legislation in the regions in which we operate. We have identified all the hazardous or toxic waste we produce and are confident that it is disposed of by competent bodies via authorised disposal routes.

Principle 9: We support the right of workers to form and join trade unions which are free to meet without hindrance.

* We recognise that there are some communities in the world where a mixed workforce is not practicable. However, we expect our suppliers to justify their practices and to treat all employees equally.

Code of Practice

The Supply Chain Principles are supported by a detailed Code of Practice which explains and illustrates in more detail the standards we expect. The full Code of Practice is publicly available on our The full Code of Practice is publicly available on our ‘Group Policies’ page. We made a number of small changes in 2007 including revisions to our terms on workers’ freedom of association to encourage better consultation mechanisms and support the right to collective bargaining.

The Supplier Manual

The Code of Practice had been developed further into a Supplier Manual which provides practical examples of our standards, illustrated with clear ‘do and don’t’ photographs. Each of the Supplier Principles is explained and put into context. There are checklists for the Factory Management team to work through to ensure that they have understood and acted on each of the important elements. The manual has been translated into Chinese and presented face-to-face to key overseas suppliers. Here are two example pages from the English version:

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