News

Maplecroft and Sedex to provide Sedex members with important insights into their supply chains through new labour standards reports for the BRICs

26/01/2012

Members of the ethical supply chain platform, Sedex, can now benefit from access to a wide range of new supply chain risk intelligence, tools and professional services following a deal to significantly expand the organisation’s partnership with risk analysis company Maplecroft.

The first of these include four new in-depth labour standards reports detailing labour rights risks throughout the BRICs countries of Brazil, China, India and Russia.

With the ever increasing importance of the BRIC countries to the supply chains of multinational corporations, Maplecroft’s labour standards reports provide in-depth analysis of the key labour issues affecting companies operating in, or sourcing from these nations.

These reports are being made available to Sedex purchasing members (i.e. brands, retailers, buying organisations), as part of the ongoing partnership with Maplecroft.

Carmel Giblin, Sedex General Manager, said ‘we are really excited about these further developments to our partnership with Maplecroft. The combination of the Maplecroft intelligence reports and the tools available in the Sedex system will give Sedex members an invaluable insight into their supply chains.’

The reports will help Sedex members analyse and compare the major labour issues affecting countries at both national and provincial levels. They provide insights into key areas such as labour rights and protection, working hours, compensation, contract law, protests, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination, forced labour and child labour.

In addition to expert analysis, the reports offer scores and trends from Maplecroft’s risk indices, country overviews, stakeholder viewpoints, detailed labour statistics and a breakdown of labour laws and the ratification of ILO conventions. Important recent events are also catalogued and supported by sub-national maps of reported labour rights violations.

The Sedex-Maplecroft partnership leverages the unique value propositions of each organisation to deliver an unrivalled sustainable sourcing service to both corporate multi-nationals and suppliers.

Further professional services from Maplecroft, including pre-screening, advisory and due-diligence services, are also available (on request via sedex@maplecroft.com) to help Sedex members assess, mitigate, manage and monitor supply chain risks, as well as strategise about the risks and opportunities associated with different locations. Maplecroft also analyses political risk in supply chains and the political risk cost premium.

About Maplecroft

Maplecroft is a leading source of global risks analysis. It researches, indexes, maps and analyses over 500 risks and issues to identify exposures and opportunities in both countries and companies. Quantitative and visual data is supported by further briefings and in-depth reports. The company’s products are complemented by customised risk tools designed to index and rate country risk, corporate risk exposures, risk management competence and innovation. For more information visit www.maplecroft.com

About Sedex

Sedex is a not-for-profit membership organisation that enables companies around the world to share ethical data with their global suppliers in order to encourage continuous improvement in ethical performance. Over 23,000 organisations from around the world have chosen Sedex as the secure place to store and share their ethical data on labour standards, health and safety, the environment and business practices. For more information visit www.sedexglobal.com.