BSCI

Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) members include retailers, brand companies and traders. Most of them deal with textiles or deal with products that include textiles, and members come from 10 countries in Europe and Canada, with 18 members from the Netherlands, such as HEMA, Bijenkorf, V&D, Claudia Strä;ter, M&S, Hunkemö;ller, WE, Wehkamp and others.

There is an increasing amount of discussion about the human rights situation that focuses on the situation in developing or newly industrialized countries that produce consumer goods. In industrialized countries, improving the social standards of the producing countries that supply their retailers has become a very important agenda for many companies. Problems that have arisen in supplying manufacturers around the globe include child labor, forced labor, lack of safety in the workplace, wages that do not even reach the minimum level, interference in the establishment of trade unions, obstruction of the work of employee representatives, excessively long prescribed working hours, excessive overtime and possibly various forms of discrimination. In order to address these issues, codes of conduct have been developed in Europe and around the world by companies, traders and trade associations from retail and industry. These codes are often based on the main labor conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and are designed to improve working conditions in supplier countries. Many countries have established monitoring systems for these codes of conduct, including Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada. The purpose of these codes of conduct and the associated monitoring systems are very similar, even down to their content. The plethora of standards makes it overwhelming for retailers to assume their social responsibility. Their suppliers face the same situation; they are subject to an increasing number of requirements and audit procedures. There is therefore an urgent need for concerted action in both retail and industry.

As these issues gain international attention, the need to develop common actions becomes even more urgent. Many international groups have taken the initiative to bring the issue to the forefront of internal discussions, such as the United Nations' Global Plan of Action, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Principles for Multinational Enterprises, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The World Trade Organization (WTO), for example, is considering the inclusion of social standards in multilateral trade regulations.

The European Commission also issued a joint communiqué on social issues in 2002. Some companies and associations, such as the Foreign Trade Association, are also involved in discussions and initiatives. However, the European retail industry places more emphasis on the principle of voluntarism than on enforcement, and adheres to the corresponding governmental and organizational requirements in the international community. Since 2002, the Foreign Trade Association (FTA), based in Brussels, Belgium, has been working to establish a common platform for the many different codes of conduct and monitoring systems in Europe and to lay the foundations for a common European monitoring system. Between 2002 and 2003, major retail companies and associations organized seminars to develop a framework for such systems, and in March 2003 FTA formally established the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) with the aim of developing implementation measures and procedures for the European Business Social Compliance Initiative (EBSCI).