The book trade companies who actively support prelims and are signatories to the prelims resolution are shown below. You can click on the associated link to see a PDF files of their signed resolution document.
In January 2003 an informal working group of publishers was convened to explore whether as an industry it would be sensible to agree to work to a common social accountability standard, in line with the principles set out in the UN Global Compact on the Responsibilities of Business. There was an increasing awareness that many larger companies, particularly retailers and distributors, were demanding that their suppliers conform to their particular social accountability code. The fact that there are multiple codes leads to confusion and puts increasing burdens on suppliers, and it is clearly to everyone's advantage if a common, international standard could be agreed.
In researching several existing standards - general, proprietary and sector-specific - several things became clear:
• that the fundamental principles are shared by all existing standards, but that there are considerable differences in emphasis and scope.
• that to have any real credibility, the standard must be in a form that can be audited by internationally recognised independent auditors.
• audits against specific proprietary standards are all commissioned and owned by the distributor/retailer which demands the supplier meets that standard. Consequently, suppliers face a stream of demands for specific audits, but are unable to provide details of such audits to other interested parties as they do not own the documentation. It would be much more sensible for social accountability audits to be treated in a similar way to ISO standards - the supplier commissions the audit from a recognised independent auditor, and can then publish and use achievement of that standard as an aid to marketing their services.
• that to agree and write a new standard for publishing would be a major task and extremely time-consuming, and it would be better if possible to adopt an existing standard.
We all agreed that the biggest advantage of adopting an existing suitable standard - apart from its immediate availability - was that the more widely a code of business practice is recognised, the more powerful is the incentive for suppliers to comply with it - and in pursuing this logic we discovered that the international toy industry has already done a great deal of work developing an auditable standard which is equally applicable to the printing and publishing industries. This being the case, we opened a dialogue with the trade body of the toy industry, ICTI.
the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI)
The International Council of Toy Industries is a global association of independent, national toy-trade organisations. They have worked long and hard to produce a widely-respected social accountability standard, which is well on the way to becoming the international norm. The standard is known as the ICTI CARE Process. It is pragmatic and progressive, and much work has been done to establish how the audits should be conducted and how suppliers can be helped to work towards achieving and maintaining the full standard. The CARE Process is designed to be audited by internationally recognised independent auditors, who are paid for by the suppliers in a similar way to ISO standards. Full details of the standard and how the audits are conducted can be found on the ICTI website. (Their website is found at: http://www.toy-icti.org/)
ICTI have agreed that prelims can adopt their standard and the CARE Process for the publishing industry - with no fee of any kind. The only restriction imposed is that the existing standard must not be edited or reduced in any way, but must be applied in its entirety, although ICTI are happy for any additional requirements for the publishing sector to be added as an addendum if necessary.
ICTI runs training courses for auditors in Hong Kong (under the auspices of the NGO, Business for Social Responsibility). The auditors are all from internationally recognised inspection/verification companies, and are already accredited SAI (Social Accountability International) auditors. Monitored trial audits of suppliers took place in September 2003 and ICTI has issued the first list of accredited auditors.
• In March 2004 we received formal endorsement of the Publishers Association for the proposal to adopt the ICTI standard for the Publishing Industry. Whilst this is vital to the overall credibility of the standard within the industry as a whole, it is important to stress that participation is in no way restricted to companies that belong to the PA. This standard is designed to have as wide a relevance to conditions in manufacturing plants as possible, and the more widely it is adopted by publishers, toy companies and any other concerned industries, the greater the strength and international acceptability it will have.
By December 2004, 6 international auditing firms had been accredited and 42 factories had been audited and achieved the CARE standard.
Since then, rapid progress has been made. As as 31 July 2006, 794 factories have applied to join the scheme, and 570 factories have achieved the CARE Process Seal. A list of all suppliers who have achieved the Seal can be found on the ICTI CARE Process website : http://www.toy-icti.org/
The audit process is rigorous, and factories must be re-audited on an annual basis. In the event of any area being found to have fallen below the standard, the factory will be put on probation and a deadline set by which remedial action must be taken. To date, 14 factories have been put on probation, and the Seal terminated for 2 factories.
Many large retailers and other companies now recognise and accept the standard, including Daisy & Tom, Early Learning Centre, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Toys R Us, Woolworths, Wal-Mart, and the list is continuing to grow internationally.We have drafted a resolution for publishers to sign to indicate their support for the initiative and their commitment to use suppliers who are accredited with the CARE standard seal. (Click here to see the prelims resolution).
Representatives of the participating companies continue to meet on a regular basis to monitor progress, liaise with ICTI on future developments (in particular progress with major retailers and other companies regarding acceptance of the standard) and deal with other issues as they arise. If you would like to attend the next meeting, or be added to the mailing list, please Contact us