Contents

Accessibility is the design of environments, products, services, information or workplaces so people with disabilities and diverse needs can use them.

An adequate wage is pay assessed as sufficient under the applicable legal, collective-bargaining or normative framework, which may not be identical to a living wage.

Adverse impacts are negative effects on people, the environment, rights, communities or systems connected to an organisation, product, activity or relationship.

Affected communities are groups of people whose rights, wellbeing, livelihoods, environment or cultural heritage may be changed by an organisation's operations or value chain.

An aggregator is an actor that combines products, materials or data from multiple sources before sale, processing or onward transfer.

amfori BSCI is a supply-chain social compliance programme focused on improving working conditions through a common code of conduct and monitoring approach.

Audit fatigue is the burden and reduced effectiveness that can arise when suppliers face repeated, overlapping or poorly coordinated assessments.

Bonded labour is work demanded as repayment for a debt or obligation where the worker's freedom to leave or repay is constrained.

A chain-of-custody model in which verified attributes are represented by transferable instruments that move through an administrative system separately from the physical material flow and are retired to...

Capacity building is support that helps people or organisations develop the knowledge, systems, resources or practices needed to meet expectations.

Cascading requirements are obligations or expectations passed from one organisation to its suppliers and then further through lower tiers of the supply chain.

A system for controlling materials, products and associated information so that specified characteristics and claims can be transferred through stages of a supply chain.

Work that children are too young to perform or work that, because of its nature or conditions, harms their health, safety, development or education under applicable international and national standards.

Collective bargaining is negotiation between workers' representatives and employers over working conditions, pay, rights or other employment matters.

Community consultation is engagement with affected communities to understand views, concerns, evidence and preferences before or during decisions that may affect them.

Community investment is voluntary or strategic support for local communities through funding, infrastructure, services, partnerships or capacity building.

Conflict-affected and high-risk areas are places where conflict, weak governance or serious abuses create heightened risks for business activity and supply chains.

A corrective action plan is a documented plan setting out actions, responsibilities and timelines to address identified gaps, findings or non-conformities.

A deforestation cut-off date is the reference date after which land conversion or deforestation may make a product, site or claim ineligible under a rule or standard.

Debt bondage is a form of forced labour in which a person pledges labour or services to repay a debt under exploitative or unclear conditions.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a set of organisational practices concerned with representation, fair access and belonging across different groups.

Downstream refers to activities, customers, users or impacts that occur after an organisation sells, distributes or transfers goods, services or products.

EcoVadis is a sustainability assessment platform that rates companies across environmental, labour, human rights, ethics and procurement themes using its own methodology.

Enhanced due diligence is a deeper level of review applied where risk indicators, context or exposure require more evidence and scrutiny than routine checks.

Equal remuneration is the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, without discrimination.

Ethical sourcing is procurement or sourcing activity that considers labour, human rights, environmental and business-conduct expectations alongside commercial requirements.

Excessive overtime is working time beyond legal, contractual or health-and-safety limits, or beyond what is freely agreed and manageable.

An exporter of record is the party formally responsible for export documentation, declarations and compliance for a shipment leaving a jurisdiction.

Fair recruitment is recruitment that respects workers' rights, avoids deception or coercion and does not create exploitative conditions.

Family-related leave is time away from work connected with childbirth, adoption, parenting, caregiving or serious family needs.

First mile refers to the earliest stage of a supply chain, often where raw materials are produced, harvested, collected or first aggregated.

FLEGT refers to Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, an EU-linked policy approach focused on legal timber and forest governance.

Work or service exacted from a person under the menace of a penalty and for which that person has not offered themselves voluntarily.

A collective right of Indigenous Peoples to make decisions about activities affecting them or their territories freely, before authorisation, on the basis of accessible information, including the ability to...

Freedom of association is the right of workers and employers to form and join organisations of their choosing without undue interference.

Gender equity is fairness in treatment, opportunity and outcomes across genders, taking account of different needs, barriers and contexts.

The gender pay gap is the difference in average pay between women and men or between gender groups within a workforce or defined population.

A grievance channel is a route through which workers, communities or other affected people can raise concerns, complaints or harms.

A process through which affected people can raise concerns, obtain a fair response and seek remedy, while generating learning without restricting access to other legitimate avenues.

An ongoing process through which a business identifies, prevents, mitigates, tracks and communicates how it addresses actual and potential human-rights impacts, and enables remedy where it has caused or...

A human rights impact assessment is a structured process for identifying, assessing and addressing actual or potential human rights impacts.

Human trafficking is the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through coercion, deception or abuse of vulnerability for exploitation.

A chain-of-custody model in which material originates from one identifiable source, is kept physically separate and retains its specified characteristics through the supply chain.

An importer of record is the party formally responsible for import documentation, declarations, duties and compliance for goods entering a jurisdiction.

Indigenous peoples' rights are collective and individual rights held by Indigenous peoples, including rights related to lands, culture, self-determination and participation.

The informal economy comprises work and enterprises not fully covered by formal legal, tax, social protection or labour arrangements.

A managed shift towards an environmentally sustainable economy that advances decent work, social inclusion and poverty eradication while ensuring affected people help shape and share the transition.

Know your supplier is the process of identifying, verifying and understanding a supplier before or during a commercial relationship.

Land conversion is the change of land from one use, ecosystem or vegetation type to another, such as from forest or grassland to agriculture or infrastructure.

Land grabbing is the acquisition or control of land in ways that may undermine legitimate tenure rights, community consent, livelihoods or human rights.

Land tenure is the way rights to own, use, occupy, access or control land are recognised, held and governed.

Legality verification is the process of checking whether a product, activity, permit or transaction complies with applicable laws in the relevant jurisdiction.

Living conditions standards are expectations for accommodation, sanitation, safety, privacy, space and welfare where workers or communities are housed or supported.

The net annual income a household in a particular place needs from all sources to afford a decent standard of living for all its members.

The wage level necessary to afford a decent standard of living for workers and their families, earned during normal working hours and calculated for a particular country or place.

Lost time injury frequency rate is a safety metric measuring lost-time injuries relative to hours worked over a defined period.

A chain-of-custody model in which materials with and without specified characteristics may be mixed while the quantities and associated claims are controlled through defined accounting rules, boundaries and...

A migrant worker is a person who moves within or across borders for employment or work-related opportunity.

Modern slavery is an umbrella term for severe exploitation such as forced labour, human trafficking, slavery-like practices and servitude.

A near miss is an unplanned event that did not cause injury, illness or damage but had the potential to do so.

Non-discrimination is the principle that people should not be treated unfairly because of protected or irrelevant characteristics.

The systematic prevention of work-related injury and ill health through hazard identification, risk control, worker participation and continual improvement.

An operational-level grievance mechanism is a process at company or site level for receiving, addressing and resolving concerns from affected people.

Passport retention is the holding of a worker's identity or travel documents by an employer, recruiter or intermediary, which may restrict freedom of movement.

Payment practices are the contractual terms, actual timing, controls and conduct governing how an organisation pays suppliers and other business partners.

Polygon mapping is the digital representation of a land area as a mapped boundary rather than a single point location.

A price premium is an additional amount paid above a baseline price, often used to support better production practices, quality attributes or sustainability outcomes.

Autonomous, membership-based organisations formed by producers to advance shared economic, social, service and representative interests.

Provenance is information about the origin, history, custody or movement of a product, material or data item.

Psychosocial risk is the risk of harm to mental health or wellbeing arising from work design, organisation, relationships, demands or environment.

Recruitment fees are costs charged to workers or employers for recruitment services, placement or related employment access.

Remediation is the process of addressing, correcting or making good an adverse impact after it has occurred.

Measures that acknowledge, stop and repair harm, restore rights where possible, compensate loss and reduce the risk of recurrence.

Responsible purchasing practices are buying behaviours that consider how price, lead time, forecasting and contract terms affect suppliers and workers.

Responsible sourcing is the practice of selecting, managing and improving supply relationships with attention to social, environmental, ethical and governance risks.

The right to organize is the right of workers to form, join and participate in organisations such as trade unions to represent their interests.

Risk mitigation measures are actions taken to reduce the likelihood, severity or consequences of identified sustainability, legal or supply-chain risks.

A risk-based approach is a method that prioritises attention, resources and controls according to the likelihood and severity of potential impacts or non-compliance.

Salient human rights issues are the human rights risks most severe in connection with an organisation's activities or business relationships.

Salient issues are the most severe or important impacts connected to an organisation, usually assessed by scale, scope, remediability and likelihood.

Security and human rights refers to managing security arrangements in ways that respect human rights and avoid abuse by public or private security actors.

A chain-of-custody model in which materials from multiple sources sharing specified characteristics may be mixed with one another but are kept physically separate from materials without those characteristics.

A producer operating at relatively small scale, usually with substantial reliance on household labour and management, whose circumstances cannot be understood from land area alone.

SMETA is a social audit methodology associated with Sedex, used to assess labour, health and safety, environment and business ethics topics.

A social audit is an assessment of workplace, labour, health and safety or human-rights conditions against a code, standard or buyer requirement.

Social dialogue is negotiation, consultation or information exchange between employers, workers and sometimes governments on work-related issues.

Social licence to operate is the informal acceptance or trust that communities and stakeholders grant to an organisation or project beyond formal legal permission.

Social protection is a set of public or private measures intended to reduce poverty, insecurity and vulnerability across the life cycle.

A supplier code of conduct is a set of expectations or requirements that a buying organisation asks suppliers to follow.

Supplier engagement is structured communication and collaboration with suppliers to understand performance, address risks or improve practices.

Supplier relationship management is the structured governance of supplier selection, contracting, communication, performance, improvement, payment and exit.

A supplier scorecard is a structured tool for comparing supplier performance against selected commercial, operational or sustainability criteria.

Supply chain mapping is the process of identifying suppliers, sites, flows, materials and relationships across a supply chain.

Supply chain resilience is the ability of a supply chain to anticipate, absorb, recover from or adapt to disruption.

A tier 1 supplier is a supplier that contracts directly with the buying organisation.

A tier n supplier is an indirect supplier located further upstream or downstream from the direct supplier relationship.

Total recordable incident rate is a safety metric measuring recordable workplace incidents relative to hours worked over a defined period.

Union busting is action by an employer or other actor intended to prevent, weaken or interfere with workers organising or participating in trade unions.

Upstream refers to activities, suppliers or impacts that occur before an organisation receives goods, materials or services.

Vulnerable groups are people or communities at heightened risk of harm, exclusion or rights impacts because of context, identity, status or power imbalance.

Whistleblower protection is protection for people who report wrongdoing, misconduct or risk from retaliation or unfair treatment.

Worker representation is the ability of workers to have their interests expressed through elected representatives, unions, committees or other recognised channels.

Worker voice refers to the channels, representation and conditions that allow workers to express concerns, provide feedback or participate in decisions affecting them.

Worst forms of child labour are severe forms of child exploitation, including slavery-like practices, trafficking, hazardous work and certain illicit activities.