Control Union Certifications offers SMETA (Sedex Member Ethical Trade Audit) auditing, a method developed by the multi stakeholder consultation initiative, Sedex. SMETA’s role is to align social audit standards and monitoring practices, to ease the auditing burden on suppliers by sharing reports and driving improvements in supply chain labour standards.
SMETA 2-Pillar audits are governed by the standards contained in the ETI base code. SMETA 4-Pillar audits add more extensive environmental management requirements as well as business practices. Reporting can be done through the Sedex database, depending on your requirements. Usually, eligible sites complete a self-assessment before audits start. Ask for a pre-audit information pack when applying.
How you benefit?
In the certification industry, various social audits are performed such as BSCI, WRAP, SA 8000 and ICTI. All of these social audits can be uploaded onto Sedex. It is up to the individual member to decide which audit best suits their purposes, however, Sedex hopes that by providing SMETA best practice guidance publicly, companies will ultimately establish one international audit protocol.
