Philips leads the way
p2pnet.net News:- Philips Electronics will demand that its 50,000 suppliers worldwide comply with basic environmental and labour standards including regulations against child labour, or they’ll no longer be suppliers.
Moreover, later this year, suppliers will be asked to turn in a self-assessment of how well they’re doing.
"It’s not a black and white policy, but if there’s a supplier that really can’t live up to our standards, then at a given moment we’ll have to ask ourselves whether we should continue our relationship," spokeswoman Patricia Oerlemans is quoted as saying in a Mercury News story here.
There’s no special deadline but companies that don’t comply will be replaced, she says.
Philips said its suppliers must show they meet the environmental standards set by the International Standards Organization in Switzerland and comply with the International Labor Union’s standards on child labor.
Oerlemans said requirements for suppliers would be phased in over the next two years and, "The company’s first step was complying with the same rules itself, "which is finished," says the report.
"The second step, taken this week, was to ask suppliers to agree in principle with Philips’ request.
Next year, Philips – which in 2003 bought 19.2 billion euros ($23.6 billion) worth of products and services – will begin carrying out checks to make sure suppliers’ behavior squares with their self-assessments.
