It is recommended that certified customers be executed at the time of recertification.If the customer insists on the new policy, it can also be implemented.

The newly applied “single-site” customer will proceed immediately, no later than September 30, 2019.

Certified “single place” customers will be executed in the next certification cycle.

Customers who have been certified or recertified cannot use the old policy after December 31, 2022.

On May 10, 2019, SAAS official website announced that the frequency of SA8000 certification audits was reduced from once every six months to once a year.

At this point, the long-established "cancel the frequency of semi-annual audits" has finally settled. This means that after the certificate is obtained, within three years of the certificate period, it is only necessary to conduct two more surveillance audits instead of the current five audits.

At the same time, the certified customer needs to meet the following conditions: within a period of 6 months after the supervision audit, an Off-Site Follow-Up Review remote follow-up is performed. The original is as follows:

The New Deal clearly stated that starting from May 10th, the frequency of the semi-annual supervision and auditing of the newly applied factory of the single site was officially cancelled and changed to the annual review. For example, a SA8000 certified customer was certified on June 19, 2019. The first surveillance audit ended on December 18, 2019. The next surveillance audit will be conducted by December 18, 2020.

SA8000 certification standard, is the earliest certification standard in the CSR social responsibility audit industry, with a history of more than 20 years. It is also one of the standards that brands are highly regarded by retailers.

At present, more and more buyers, brands, and retailers are turning to external auditing standards to replace their original auditing standards. Such as Walmart Walmart, Disney Disney, Amazon and so  on. And these external standards accepted by customers, SA8000 is impressive.

For example, Wal-Mart said: accept the SA8000 standard and give it a validity period of three years.

It is worth mentioning that compared with the current one-year review policy of the mainstream auditing standards, the SA8000 is almost the only one that requires a semi-annual review. Therefore, to a certain extent, it not only brings trouble to the certified enterprises, but also brings inconvenience to some buyers who accept external standards in the process of standard integration conversion. Therefore, it is expected that the adjustment of the annual frequency of the SA8000 will be widely welcomed by the CSR industry.

It is understood that the establishment of SA8000 originated from the fact that a clothing company in the United States illegally employed child labor and forced the work to be exposed for a long time. Subsequently, some internationally renowned brands have established their own social responsibility standards. After seven years, today's SA8000 is no longer a new term in manufacturing companies in the US and Europe.

The SA8000 process can increase the attractiveness of a business to existing and potential workers, and people will certainly be more eager to choose companies that are more ethical and act on human rights. SA8000 will be popular in the future because companies want to show their willingness to improve the working environment and working conditions. This standard system has been praised almost everywhere in the world because it stipulates some other systems to avoid.

SA8000 has entered a period of widespread cognition in European and American countries. Therefore, in the European and American markets, export products and export enterprises targeting developed countries are gradually increasing their use of the SA8000 standard.

According to reports, German importers have enacted the "Social Code of Conduct" under the authority of the SA8000 Association, and the review of suppliers' social behavior is quite strict. Two other textile importing countries: France and the Netherlands are also preparing to review the same standards. The same requirements are also from the United States and Italy. They have clearly requested that all Chinese textile, garment, footwear and other export enterprises must pass the SA8000 standard certification beforehand, otherwise they will cooperate with France to boycott product imports.

SA8000 is another important international standard after ISO9000 and ISO14000. The final trend is bound to be widely accepted as the ISO9000 quality system and ISO14000 environmental standard. SA8000's founding machine CEPAA (Standards and Accreditation Advisory Committee) Coffman said: "SA8000 has the potential to be widely used. Because its end users are consumers all over the world, they will get a wider range when appropriate. Understanding and application, because wholesalers tend to choose to purchase goods from ethical factories in order to retain their retail customers. This is another quality of meaning and a selling point they provide, indicating that certification is only granted to have excellent working standards. enterprise."

Conditions and characteristics for applying for SA8000 certification:

1. Prove that your company complies with national and local laws and regulations;

2. Check the company status according to the SA8000 inspection factory;

3. Enter the application process within one year.

Once the assessment agency accepts your application, you become an SA8000 applicant. Once you are fully prepared for the SA8000, you can proceed to schedule a pre-assessment forecast. If improvements are needed, you will be given sufficient time to improve your human resources, safety and management practices in accordance with the SA8000 standard. Applicants can be extended to 2 years if necessary.

The forecast is prepared for entry into the argumentation assessment. A specially trained local assessment team will come to your facility. They understand local laws, society, and speak the same language as your managers and workers. You have to provide a comprehensive history of the plant, and the assessor is free to talk to the employee and give you an opportunity to remedy if certain aspects of the plant's operations need improvement.

The assessment team will confirm that your factory is fully compliant with the standard and issue a SA8000 certificate. The certificate is valid for 3 years and is reviewed every 6 months. Request to extend once every 3 years

GOTS, Global Organic Textile Standard, it has been certified as a global organic textile standard. The standard has been published for more than 10 years and is composed of relevant organizations from Japan, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The original organic materials organizations in these countries are of a high standard in the world. They spent four years negotiating to form a unified international standard to make the trading of international organic materials easier in the future.

There are four characteristics of the GOTS certification standard:

The first one requires the use of organic fibers, including natural fibers such as cotton and linen, which can be used as organic fibers.

Second, third party testing. Third-party testing is also done by an independent certification body.

The third includes standards for both environmental and social responsibility. Generally speaking, some of the standards we are referring to now cover only environmental standards, such as water pollution, and some additives. In addition, we also include social responsibility here. Whether these workers working in the factory are treated fairly, their working hours, etc., are also concerned about some of their rights.

The fourth covers the entire supply chain. We talk about the entire processing supply chain, starting from cotton, from the processing of cotton fiber, to the yarn stage, to the most contaminated printing and dyeing links in the entire textile chain. Finally, in the manufacturing, warehousing and logistics sectors, even retailers and traders who sell products are subject to rigorous review.

Knowing that SA8000 certification is a social responsibility standard, how should companies implement this standard? Factory inspection is a must. In today's market, consumers are paying more and more attention to the production environment of the products they purchase, and the channels for obtaining information in this area are becoming wider and wider. Therefore, the value of the goods and the morality of the entire production supply chain are required for brand holders and retailers. The level takes responsibility.

So how do companies prove that they have taken due diligence? Are you 100% sure that your entire supply chain has implemented social responsibility standards and is able to consistently and continuously improve?

In 1996, the SA8000 standard was developed as a standard for products in various industries and became a measure of corporate social responsibility performance. SA8000 provides a transparent, measurable, verifiable standard that certifies business performance in nine key areas: child labor, discrimination, forced labor, disciplinary enforcement, health and safety, working hours, free association and collective bargaining Power, compensation, management system.

The purpose of the SA8000 standard is to protect the basic rights and interests of mankind. The elements of the SA8000 standard are drawn from the ILO's relevant conventions and other relevant norms prohibiting forced labor, freedom of association, global declarations of human rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Children. The standard first gives the definition and core elements of an independent review of the organization and company, and confirms the basic principles of the audit judgment.

For example, "child labor" is one of the core elements of the standard. The principle of this element is as follows: "The company cannot or support the exploitation of child labor. The company should establish effective documented policies and procedures to promote the education of underage children. These children may be under-represented under the local compulsory education law or underage children who are out of school.

At the same time, the SA8000 standard stipulates specific guarantee measures. For example, under normal school hours, underage children's labor may not be used; the working hours, school hours, work and study activities of underage children shall not exceed 8 hours per day; Use a child's workforce to perform work that is harmful, unsafe, and dangerous to children's health.

There are three main points that need to be paid attention to in the SA8000 audit: about enterprises, forced labor, and child labor. Let's take a look at what points to look at in these three points.

Firstly, there are precautions about the company, but also the general requirements, such as:

Does the company regularly collect some laws and regulations for use?

Do you keep the current version of all used laws and regulations? 

Whether the company adopts the most stringent terms when different regulations and standards involve the same issue?

Secondly, it is about whether the company has forced labor, such as:

Does the company keep the original of the worker ID card? 

Do you need a worker to pay a deposit? 

Does the worker know the terms of the labor contract and the company's regulations? 

Do you understand the right to free employment?

Do workers and enterprises have long-term, large loan relationships? 

Is there any other way of repaying debts other than paying for work?

Thirdly, it is about the use of child labor, which is also a top priority.

1. Does the company maintain a personnel file for all workers, including a copy of the age document and the date of entry?

2. Does the company have a clear recruitment procedure? And what measures are taken to identify the age of workers?

3. Do workers understand the company's policies and procedures prohibiting child labor and protecting minors?

4. Does the company establish a roster of underage workers and jobs, whether there are registrations for juvenile workers and regular health checkups, and are they arranged to engage in dangerous and harmful work?

5. If there is any child labor found, what kind of remedial measures does the company take? Is there any timely notification to the local labor department?

The above mentioned are precautions we should pay attention to while being SA8000 certified.

The SA8000 standard does not explicitly require companies to write social responsibility management manuals. Companies can write management manuals based on their own characteristics and needs. For companies with weak social responsibility management, writing a social responsibility management manual alone is conducive to highlighting key points and strengthening social responsibility management. After the company's social responsibility management is on the right track, it is gradually integrated with other management systems to achieve multiple management systems. 

Due to the multi-layered nature of the social responsibility management system documents, the following issues should be noted when writing system documents:

1. Systematic

The system document reflects the characteristics of corporate social responsibility management and regulates the control of technical, managerial and personnel factors related to social responsibility activities. Between the various levels of the system document, the document and the document should be clearly structured, the interface is clear, the structure is reasonable, and the order is coordinated. When preparing the social responsibility management system documents, each level of documents should involve a logically independent part of the social responsibility management system. It should be planned and coordinated from the overall responsibility of the company's social responsibility management system.

2. Compliance

The content of the social responsibility management system document should meet the requirements of the standard, fully reflecting the "standard requirements must be written, written, and done." The drafted documents should be fully discussed and evaluated to be operational and reflect the objective needs of the company's social responsibility management activities. Management specification. The document structure of the social responsibility management system can also be divided into three levels, as described in Appendix A of ISO 10013, Guidelines for the Preparation of Quality Manuals, namely:

(1) Management Manual (Level A)

(2) Program file (Level B)

(3) Work instructions and records (C level)

Their relationship is as follows. The social responsibility system documents at all levels should be consistent with the contents of the first level social responsibility manual. Companies can divide the level of system files according to their size and actual situation, not necessarily all three levels.

Management Manual (Level A): Describe the SA8000 system according to the SA8000 standard and the SA8000 management guidelines and objectives.

Program Files (Level B): Describe the activities of the various functional departments involved in implementing the elements of the system.

Job files (C level): detailed work files (forms, reports, assignments, work instructions, records, etc.).

3. Authoritative

The system document is the code of conduct for the company to implement social responsibility management and to ensure that social responsibility factors are controlled. The system documents shall comply with the requirements of SA8000 standards, relevant national laws and regulations and other requirements. After the social responsibility management system document is approved by the company's top management, it becomes the internal legal document that the company must implement. It is one of the basis for guiding the company's behavioral norms and implementation audits.

3. Witness

The social responsibility management system document can be used as objective evidence to verify the operation of the company's social responsibility management system to company managers, stakeholders, and third-party certification bodies. For example, for internal or external audits, the social responsibility management system procedure document can serve as objective evidence for:

(1) Social responsibility factors have been identified and their importance has been evaluated.

(2) The procedure for the activity has been determined and approved.

(3) The activities are under full supervision.

(4) Program file changes are in a controlled state.

4. Applicability

The social responsibility management system document should fully reflect the characteristics of the company's activities, the size of the company, the category of social responsibility factors, the level of technology and the quality of personnel. The issue of social responsibility is also a development issue. With the advancement of science and technology and the strengthening of laws and regulations, the social responsibility management system also reflects the dynamic characteristics. In order to achieve continuous improvement and ensure the continued suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the system, it is necessary to fully consider that the social responsibility management system needs to continuously track the requirements of laws and regulations and new changes brought about by the development of the enterprise.