SedexBasic Overview
Sedex Member Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) is one of the most widely used business ethics audit formats in the world and is globally recognized as a way to assess supply chains, including assessments of labor rights, health and safety, environment, and business ethics. SMETA can reduce the redundancy in the ethical trade review process, benefiting brand owners, retailers, and suppliers. Suppliers can use SMETA for business ethics audits and share it with numerous customers, rather than providing different audits for each customer.
Review content
1. SMETA audit is divided into four modules: labor rights, health and safety, environment, and business ethics;
2. The specific content is as follows:
Audit type
Final customer decision on audit type: Two modules/Four modules (2Pillar/4Pillar)
SMETA-2Pillar：Labor Standards& Health and safety (including simplified version of environmental assessment)
SSMETA-4Pillar：Labor Standards& Health and Safety& Environment& business ethics
Audit form
notice The audited venue agrees or is informed of the audit date
Half notice The audit date agreed upon through negotiation falls within a certain time frame, and the buyer's company or audit agency will specify the possible time frame for the audit to occur
The review time range may vary from 2 weeks to 2 months. SSF suggests 3 weeks for the best results
No notification Without prior notice
Scoring criteria
Desktop：Non conformities discovered during the audit, such as the lack of a catering service license, can be closed on the CAP by submitting rectified images to the audit party. Once accepted, such non conformities will be marked as“D”.
Follow-up：Non conformities identified during the audit, such as insufficient salary payments, must be followed up on during the second on-site audit. Such non conformities will be marked as“F”.
audit result
SMETA audit does not issue certificates, only provides a PDF version of the audit report, which does not include conclusions such as audit score, level, and whether it has passed. Factories that complete Sedex certification will receive a factory code ZC& ZS number can be searched on Sedex's official website.
