DESCRIPTION OF THE AMFORI BSCI VERIFICATION

PROCEDURE

CONTENT

1. VERIFICATION PROCEDURE ................................................................................................... 2

1.1. Audit Preparation......................................................................................................................2
1.2. Onsite audit ...............................................................................................................................2
1.3. Report submission on amfori Sustainability platform ........................................................... 3
1.4. Continuous Improvement ........................................................................................................ 3
2. FOLLOW UP MONITORING ...................................................................................................... 3
3. NOTES ON MULTI-TIER FOOD AUDITS................................................................................... 4

If you should require any further information then please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be please
to help you.

Please contact us via mail to [email protected] or by telephone 0800 245 74 57 (Free-phone

from within Germany) or +49 511 9986-1222 from abroad.

TÜV NORD CERT GmbH

Am TÜV 1
45307 Essen
Germany

www.tuev-nord-cert.com

This document has been approved according to CERT-401-VA-007. Details are available from the QM-Department.

A801F300 Rev. 04/09.23 Page 1 from 4

 DESCRIPTION OF THE AMFORI BSCI VERIFICATION
PROCEDURE

The verification procedure for the Code of Conduct based on amfori BSCI consists of the offer and contract
phase, the audit preparation, performance of the audit and entry into the amfori Sustainability platform. No
certificate or comparable official document is issued. Based on the result of the audit either a follow up
audit shall be conducted within 1 year or a full audit after two years.

The auditors are selected by the TÜV NORD CERT GmbH depending on authorisation and qualification

1. VERIFICATION PROCEDURE

1.1. Audit Preparation

The monitoring/audit is requested by the RSP holder on the amfori Sustainability platform. The scheduler
shall either confirm or reject RSP’s request within five days.

Following signature of the contract and request of RSP holder accepted on amfori sustainable platform,
the audit is prepared using the customer questionnaire and the audit effort calculation. The scheduler is
assigning a date for the audit, appoints a lead monitoring person and optionally, appoints other monitoring
team members; also requesting availability dates within a defined period from the main auditee (for a semi-
announced audit) or informs the main auditee of the audit date (for an announced audit).

1.2. Onsite audit

Before the audit, the customer receives an audit plan, in case the audit is announced. If the audit is semi
announced, the audit plan only mentions about the window time without specific audit date. If the audit is
unannounced, the customer will only receive the audit plan at the date of the first audit day.

The audit begins with an openning meeting. In case of semi or un-announced audit, a quick site tour may
be conducted upon arrival. During the opening meeting, the auditor introduces the audit team and the
purpose and scope of the audit. The audit procedure is explained. At least the management representative
and worker representative shall attend.

During onsite audit, the auditor collects evidence on the customer’s social performance through
documentation, site observation and interviews. These three types of evidence collected will be reported
accordingly in the audit report. amfori BSCI monitoring are designed to assess a business partner against
the values and principles of the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, which are translated into thirteen
Performance Areas (PAs). Based on professional judgement, the auditor will complete the relevant social
performance questionnaires basing on the status of satisfactory evidence and sufficient evidence. The
findings report will be generated on the amfori Sustainability platform.

The closing meeting will occur at the end of the onsite audit. At least management representative and
worker representative shall attend the meeting. The lead auditor reports on the individual elements and
explains positive and negative findings. A findings report is created on the amfori platform and signed by
the customer and the lead auditor. The management and workers’ representative sign the findings report.
A signature does not represent acceptance of the content, but just acknowledges that the audit has been
conducted without irregularities.

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 DESCRIPTION OF THE AMFORI BSCI VERIFICATION
PROCEDURE

1.3. Report submission on amfori Sustainability platform

The completed amfori BSCI audit report which addresses all areas for improvement and relevant
supporting documents (e.g. the signed findings report, photos) shall be uploaded to the amfori platform
database within 15 calender days of the last audit day.

The auditee may access to the amfori platform to get the report and the overall rating as final result of the
monitoring activity. Rating is automatically calculated by an online, computerised system of amfori and is
out of the monitoring person’s control.

If the full monitoring of the business partner was rated C, D or E then the audit validity is 12 months after
the full monitoring, and a follow-up can be conducted between two and 12 months later. The conduct of
the follow-up monitoring will extend the audit validity until the end of the audit cycle. In case a follow up
audit is not conducted within 12 month a new full audit is needed.

1.4. Continuous Improvement

After an amfori BSCI audit, business partners should define a ‘sustainability impact’ (previously named as
remediation plan) in response to the findings report issued by the auditor. This will be visible to all linked
members in the amfori Sustainability Platform.
For Multi-Tier audits, the response to findings reported at next-tier sites is the responsibility of the main
auditee in cooperation with the farms.

In case the overall rating is A or B, the auditee to maintain its continuous improvement process without a
professional follow-up monitoring. If the overall rating is C, D, E, that requires auditee to develop a related
continuous improvement plan with impacts and measures accordingly within 60 days of the monitoring
date. A professional follow-up monitoring is envisaged to assess continuous improvement.

Only the business partners who owns the site can input this information and set the status to Complete.
All linked members can view the information but cannot edit it.
A graph shows how many audit findings have been linked with a sustainability impact, how many of these
have been set to ‘complete’. The member can, when appropriate, initiate a follow-up audit from this part
of the Platform.

2. FOLLOW UP MONITORING

amfori BSCI follow up monitoring usually occurs within 12-month from previous amfori BSCI monitoring.
At the same time, there may be circumstance where amfori BSCI members may see the need to schedule
a follow up monitoring in an early stage. This can take the form of an amfori BSCI follow up monitoring or
a different agreed mean.

Within the framework of the preparation for the follow-up monitoring, the customer shall inform about the
previous findings report and significant changes to verify the eligibility of a follow up and also the audit
effort. Customers are obliged to inform the certification body of major changes such as legal entity,
management, ownership or physical address in order to decide that follow-up audit may or may not apply.

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 DESCRIPTION OF THE AMFORI BSCI VERIFICATION
PROCEDURE

The follow-up monitoring only covers performance areas if there was a finding in the previous monitoring.
Contrary to the full monitoring, where all Performance Areas are looked at, the monitoring person will only
investigate performance areas with findings in the follow-up monitoring.

3. NOTES ON MULTI-TIER FOOD AUDITS

Multi-tier audits are appropriate for manufacturers and processors who have identified their upstream
supply chain in the amfori Sustainability Platform. They assess the social sustainability of a significant
business partner and a sample of its next-tier business partners, such as of next-tier producers,
subcontractors, suppliers, or farms.

The audit requirements are adapted to the business of the main auditee or farms.
• This audit is designed for business partners in food and agriculture sectors which produce and
trade fresh and processed products.
• A multi-tier food audit should be planned with consideration of the seasonality of production
activities at farm level such as the harvesting or the sowing seasons.
• Business partners (BP’s) are responsible for maintaining their own data on the amfori Sustainability
Platform. Neither linked members, nor the RSP holder can change company information on behalf
of the BP.
• Tier 1 BPs are requested to map and classify their next tier business partners (farms)
• Next Tier farms are visible to members in the profile of the Tier 1 main auditee. They will be
assigned an amfori ID which is linked to the ID of the Tier 1 business partner.

For multi-tier audits, the number of farms selected by the RSP holder to be included in the audit, as well
the number of workers per farm, will impact the duration of the audit. The number of farms can be agreed
upon by the RSP holder and the main auditee.
The validity of a multi-tier monitoring cycle is based on the rating of the main auditee.

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