all you will need to know as a p r e l i m s supplier
prelims was formed in January 2003 by a group of UK and US publishers. Our aim was to develop a shared approach to monitoring the ethical standards of our suppliers.
Why? Because many of our bigger business customers and readers were asking us to. And, more importantly, because we wanted to monitor the standards in our supply chain.
In July 2010, we engaged Acona Ltd as our Secretariat. They have helped us to develop our own monitoring process.
More about the prelims monitoring process
The prelims monitoring process does NOT result in a pass or fail. You will also NOT receive a certificate of compliance on completing the process.
Members of the prelims group are committed to working with all our suppliers who engage with us during the monitoring process and therefore strongly encourage you to be open and honest with us at all times.
The prelims Code of Conduct outlines the responsibilities we expect of our suppliers. These are:
• We expect direct suppliers who are a medium or high risk to undergo an audit against our Code of Conduct or equivalent standards, as agreed, with us
• We define direct suppliers as those who manage or own the sites where our products are manufactured
• We expect agents to conduct an audit of suppliers who are a medium or high risk to the same standard as our Code, and share the results of those audits with us
• We define agents as being all suppliers who act as a broker between our members and our direct product manufacturers
• We expect direct suppliers and agents to communicate our Code of Conduct to all staff on-site in the principle languages spoken at the site
If you feel unsure about what is expected of you, please contact us with any questions you may have.
Further Information on the monitoring process
If you have been asked to have an audit by a member of this group, you should ensure that you are prepared for it BEFORE you contact the audit company, SGS. We have put together a checklist of documents that you will need to have onsite at all times. If you have any concerns about whether or not you are prepared for the audit after you have read this document, please talk to the member who asked you to have the audit BEFORE you contact SGS.
For further information on what happens during an audit, please read this guide to the audit process that has been put together by prelims and the company who will audit you, SGS.
Pre-audit Questionnaire
If you have been asked by a prelims member to undergo an audit, please fill out this pre-audit questionnaire and send it to the SGS contact in your region. They will then be able to send you a quote for the audit based on this information as well as agree a timeframe with you for when the audit will take place. Please note that a prelims audit will be semi-announced. This means that it may take place at any time during an agreed 4 week period.Audit Contact and Cost Information
If you have been asked by a prelims member to undergo an audit, please find the local contact details for the SGS office in your country as well as costs for the audit process and follow-up here.