The Farmers Trading Company Limited Ethical Sourcing Policy

Ethical Sourcing Policy

  1. Purpose:

    Farmers operates all of its business in an ethical manner and is committed to improving social, ethical and environmental standards throughout our supply chain and in all aspects of our operations

    The purpose of this ethical sourcing policy is to set out Farmer’s expectations of how suppliers will behave and how Farmers will manage the relationships.

    This policy applies to all suppliers of goods and services to Farmers. The policy is in addition to all local laws and regulations that may apply to a supplier.

  2. Our Expectations:

    Farmers has the expectation that its suppliers will share and demonstrate the same commitment that Farmers has to improving social, ethical and environmental standards.

    The expectation and responsibilities set out in this policy apply to suppliers and any sub-contractors, manufacturing processes, labour and raw materials supply.

    This Policy outlines the minimum standards that all suppliers and their sub-contractors must comply with when producing and supplying merchandise or services for Farmers.

    Farmers expects its suppliers to:

    • Comply with the minimum standards outlined in the Policy.
    • Fully co-operate with any audit process conducted by or on behalf of Farmers; and
    • Ensure that corrective action is taken as a priority to rectify any breach of this Policy.

    We reserve the right to terminate business relationships with suppliers that fall short of the expectations of this policy or fail to take appropriate corrective action where necessary.

  3. Ethical Standards

    Farmers expects its suppliers to comply with the following standards and any associated laws and regulations in the supplier’s country of operation and manufacture.

    1. Bribery and Corruption
      • Suppliers must not engage in acts of bribery and corruption.
      • Suppliers must not offer money, gifts or other inducements to any employee of Farmers.
    2. Labour Rights
      • Employment is freely chosen.
      • Workers are not permitted or encouraged to incur debt through recruitment fees, fines or other means.
      • Workers must not be required to lodge deposits or their identity papers with their employer and must be free to leave their employer after reasonable notice.
      • Workers must be free to leave the workplace after their shift.
      • Workers must not be recruited or employed through human trafficking.
    3. Freedom of Association

      Suppliers must respect that workers have the right to join a union or a worker’s organisation of their own choosing and to bargain collectively.

      Suppliers are required to recognise the rights of unions and their organisational activities, including as provided for by relevant legislation.

      Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under local laws, suppliers must facilitate the development of alternative means of independent and free association and bargaining.

    4. Working Conditions

      Suppliers must provide workers with a safe and clean working environment, taking into account the prevailing knowledge of the industry, any specific hazards and any applicable laws and standards.

      Adequate steps must be taken to prevent accidents and injury to health occurring during the course of work.

      Suppliers must provide adequate safeguards against fire and shall ensure strength, stability and safety of buildings and equipment (including residential accommodation where provided). There must be adequate documentation of compliance checks of the above safeguards.

      Workers must receive regular and recorded health and safety training. Such training must be repeated for new or reassigned workers.

      Suppliers must ensure that personal protective equipment is available and workers are trained in its use. Safeguards on machinery must meet or exceed local laws. There must be adequate documentation of regular maintenance of machinery.

      Suppliers must provide workers with access to clean toilet facilities, clean and drinkable water and if appropriate, sanitary facilities for food storage and preparation. Where suppliers provide worker accommodation, it must be clean, safe and meet the basic needs of the workers.

    5. Child Labour

      Suppliers must not use child labour and must only employ workers who meet the local minimum age requirement. Suppliers must verify the age of their workers and maintain evidence of workers’ proof of age.

    6. Wages

      Wages and benefits paid either directly to workers or through an agency or broker, must meet, as a minimum, any applicable local laws or benchmark industry standards, whichever is the higher. In any event wages must always be enough to meet basic needs and provide some discretionary income.

      All workers must be provided with written and understandable information about their employment conditions with respect to wages before they enter employment and about the particulars of their wages for each pay period.

      Deductions from wages as a disciplinary measure is not permitted, nor any deductions from wages not provided for by local laws without the express permission of workers. All disciplinary and performance management measures must be recorded.

    7. Working Hours

      Working hours must comply with local laws and benchmark industry standards, whichever affords greater protection.

      Overtime must be voluntary and not be excessive. It must not be demanded on a regular basis and must always be compensated at a premium rate.

      Suppliers shall comply with national/local laws for workers’ entitlements to public and annual holidays.

    8. Discrimination

      Suppliers must not discriminate in hiring, promotion, compensation, access to training, termination or retirement, based on personal characteristics such as race, caste, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, union membership or political affiliation.

    9. Discipline

      Physical abuse or discipline, the threat of physical abuse, sexual or other harassment and verbal abuse or other forms of intimidation is prohibited. All disciplinary and performance management measures must be recorded.

    10. Regular Employment

      To every extent possible work performed must be on the basis of a recognised employment relationship established through national law and practice.

      Obligations to employees under local laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship must not be avoided through the use of labour-only contracting, subcontracting, home-working arrangements or through apprenticeship schemes where there is no real intent to impart skills or provide regular employment. In addition, any such obligations must not be avoided through the excessive use of fixed-term contracts of employment.

    11. Illegal Labour

      Suppliers must not use illegal labour and must be able to verify the right of their workers’ (including sub-contractors’) legal eligibility and entitlement to work in the country of employment by reviewing original documentation.

    12. Environment

      Suppliers must comply with local environmental protection laws and regulations.

      Suppliers must ensure that key environmental impacts of facilities are identified and managed to minimise the impact of the supplier’s operations on the environment.

      Suppliers must be able to trace the origin of all their raw materials and components, and provide evidence of this to Farmers where requested.

  4. Compliance with this Policy

    It is a supplier’s responsibility to ensure compliance with this Policy, and maintain adequate records of all aspects of the ethical standards set out in this Policy.

    We may require suppliers to forward us copies of their current Ethical, Social and Environmental compliance audit documents for all manufacturing facilities that produce goods for Farmers.

    The type of audit documents we may require are SMETA, BSCI, AMFORI, WRAP, and ISO14001 (environment) and any CAPR documents where applicable.

    Farmer’s employees, agents or representatives may visit supplier’s factories or facilities to audit a supplier’s compliance with this Policy.

    We also expect suppliers to ensure their sources of raw material, trims, packaging, and transport etc, also comply and request the same transparency as above.

    Non-compliance with this Policy will require the supplier to undertake corrective action, the extent of which will be dependent upon the nature of the breach. Farmers may terminate the business relationship where deemed appropriate.

道德采购政策

1. 目的

Farmers各项业务的经营严格遵循商业道德规范,并在整个供应链及业务运营的方方面面都不断完善及提高整个社会、道德和环境标准。

本道德采购政策的目的是阐明Farmers对供应商行为方式的期望以及Farmers将如何处理双方关系。

本道德采购政策适用于给Farmers提供所有产品及服务的供应商。供应商除了应当遵循当地法规政策之外,还当遵循此政策规定。

2. 我们的期望

Farmers一直遵循社会道德及环境准则。我们期望我们的供应商和分包商也能够认同并共同致力于该实践。

此政策下的期待与职责适用于所有的供应商及分包商,生产过程,劳工及原材料供应环节。

本政策概述了所有供应商及其分包商在为Farmers生产和提供商品或服务时必须遵守的最低标准。

Farmers期望其供应商:

  • 遵守本政策中规定的最低标准。
  • 全力配合由Farmers或其代表执行的任何审计程序。
  • 有任何违反此规定的行为,要立刻采取措施进行整顿。

对于不符合本政策期望,或必须采取措施纠错整顿却没有执行的的供应商,我们将保留终止与其业务关系的权利。

3. 道德标准

Farmers期望其供应商遵守如下标准,并遵守其业务经营和生产所在国的相关法律和规定。

a. 贿赂和腐败
供应商不得从事贿赂或腐败行为。
供应商不得送钱,送礼,或其他任何形式来诱惑Farmers员工。
b. 劳工权利
• 雇用属自由选择 。
• 不允许或鼓励员工以招聘费、罚款或其他方式承担债务。
• 员工不需要向雇主提交定金或身份证件,在递交合理通知后可解除劳动关系。
• 员工有权在交班结束后自由离岗。
• 不得通过非法途径招聘雇佣员工。
c. 结社自由
员工有权加入工会或自行选择的劳工组织并进行集体谈判。供应商应就此表示尊重。
供应商必须承认工会的权利及其组织的活动,包括相关法律规定的活动。
若组织协会和集体谈判权的自由受到当地法律的限制,供应商应协助寻求其他独立自由协会和交涉方式。
d. 工作条件
供应商应根据普遍的行业知识,考虑任何特殊危害,并遵守相关法律和准则,向员工提供一个安全、卫生 的工作环境。
必须充分采取措施,防止在工作过程中引发任何事故或危害健康。
供应商必须提供充分的防火保障,确保建筑物和设备的牢固性、稳定性和安全性(包括提供的住宿)。必须有明文规定来确保这些措施到位。
必须给员工提供常规身体检查,并做好记录,给员工提供安全意识培训。新员工和调换岗位的员工应再次接受此类培训。
供应商必须确保提供个人防护装备,并就其使用方法对工人进行培训。机械的防护设施必须符合或优越过当地的法律规定。必须有明确文件来确保这些常规机械保护装置到位。
供应商必须向员工提供干净的卫生间、洁净的饮用水以及用于食品储存和制备的卫生设施。若供应商提供住宿,住宿设施应卫生、安全,能够满足员工基本住宿需求。
e. 童工
供应商不得雇佣童工,只能雇佣符合当地最低劳动年龄的员工。供应商必须核实员工年龄,并保存能够证明员工年龄的文件。
f. 薪资
直接付给工人,或通过中介/经纪人间接付给工人的工资和福利至少应符合当地相关法律规定或基准行业标准,且以较高者为准。任何情况下,所发工资至少应能够满足基本生活需要,并容许一部分可支配收入。
聘用员工之前,必须向员工提供书面形式且易于理解的、涉及工资 之雇佣条件的有关资料,并在每次支付工资时,向员工提供本次工资的计算详情。
不允许将扣减工资作为纪律处分措施,且未经员工明确许可,不得从员工工资中扣缴当地法律规定之外的纳金。所有员工纪律和绩效管理措施应予以备案。
g. 工作时间
工作时间必须遵守当地法律规定和基准行业标准,且以能够提供最大保障者为准。
员工可自愿加班,但不得过度,且不应经常被要求加班。加班应支付额外加班费。
供应商应遵守国家/地方法律规定,允许工人享有节假和年假的权利。
h. 歧视
供应商在雇佣、晋升、补偿、提供培训机会、终止劳动关系或退休方面,不得对种族、种姓、民族血统、宗教信仰、年龄、个人缺陷、性别、婚姻状况、性取向、工会成员或政治背景等个人特征进行歧视。
i. 纪律
禁止对员工进行人身攻击或训诫,身体虐待的威胁,性骚扰或其他骚扰、言语虐待或其他形式的恐吓。所有员工纪律和绩效管理措施应予以备案。
j. 定期雇佣
任何情况下,必须尽可能根据国家法律和规范确立劳动关系后执行工作。
必须根据当地的法律和法规对员工履行定期雇佣义务,不得利用单一劳动承包、分包、在家工作安排或通过无意传授技能或提供定期雇佣的学徒制计划逃避义务。此外,也不得过度利用固定期限的聘用合同来逃避该义务。
k. 非法劳工
供应商不得使用非法劳工,并且必须通过检查原始文件,核实员工(包括分包商的员工)在该国的合法就业资格和权利。
l. 环境
供应商必须遵守当地环境保护法律及法规,并认识到设施对关键环境的影响,采取相应举措以尽量减少运营对所在环境的影响。
供应商必须能够溯源所有原始材料及成分,Farmers需要时,供应商能够及时提供凭证。

4. 政策合规性

供应商有责任确保遵守本政策,并保存本政策规定的各项道德标准的全面记录。

我们有权要求供应商提供他们所有生产工厂的道德,社会,环境方面的审核资料。

我们要求的审核资料包括SMETA, BSCI, AMFORI, WRAP及ISO14001(环境)和CAPR资料。

Farmers可派遣员工、代理或代表走访供应商工厂或设施,审核供应商在本政策下的合规性。

我们也期望原材料供应商,如辅料,包装,运输等,也同样达到上述要求。

若发现供应商未遵守本政策,Farmers将根据违规性质,要求其采取相应校正措施。必要时,Farmers 会终止与该供应商的业务往来。