Supplier’s commitments
We describe what is meant by human rights, workers’ rights, the environment, and business ethics. We also explain the concept connection to what is purchased.
Code of conduct
The contract clause refers to the Supplier Code of Conduct, which is an appendix.
Excerpt from the contract clause
Supplier shall fulfil the contract in accordance with the commitments in appendix [1] Supplier Code of Conduct regarding human rights, workers’ rights, the environment and business ethics and take the measures specified in [this chapter/agreement section].
The commitments apply to all operations connected to what is purchased.
The commitments cover human rights, workers’ rights, the environment, and business ethics. They are based on the UN Global Compact, international conventions, and declarations.
Foundation of the code of conduct
The code of conduct also includes a general commitment to respect human rights, in line with Principle 11 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
“Business enterprises should respect human rights. This means that they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.”
The UN Guiding Principles are non-binding and therefore use the word “should” instead of “shall.”
Human rights
The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard for expected business conduct, regardless of where companies operate. It exists independently of states’ ability or willingness to fulfil their human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations. The responsibility therefore exists beyond compliance with national laws and regulations that protect human rights.
So, what are human rights?
Human rights are inherent in all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language or any other status.
Every individual is entitled to enjoy human rights without discrimination.
The rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the cornerstone of modern human rights law. It has been codified through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Together they form the International Bill of Human Rights.
The International Bill of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work serve as the reference point for the supplier’s commitment to human rights.
More information about the ILO Declaration can be found in the section on workers’ rights.
(Video in Swedish)
Examples of companies' impact on human rights
In the table below, which is from the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework, we have listed examples of companies’ adverse impact on human rights.
| Human right | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Right of self-determination | • A right of peoples, rather than individuals. • Peoples are entitled to determine their political status and place in the international community. • It includes the rights to pursue economic, social and cultural development, to dispose of a land’s natural resources and not to be deprived of the means of subsistence. • A particular right of indigenous peoples to self-determination has been specifically recognized by the international community. | • Engaging in business activities on land that has traditional significance to the peoples that inhabit an area when that land was acquired by Government without due consultation with the local population. • Any activity that might have impacts on indigenous peoples’ lands, whether through acquisition, construction or operation, may give rise to impacts on their right to self-determination. |
| Right to life | • Right not to be deprived of life arbitrarily or unlawfully. • Right to have one’s life protected, for example, from physical attacks or health and safety risks. | • The lethal use of force by security forces (State or private) to protect company resources, facilities or personnel. • Operations that pose life-threatening safety risks to workers or neighbouring communities through, for example, exposure to toxic chemicals. • The manufacture and sale of products with lethal flaws. |
| Right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment or punishment | • An absolute right, which applies in all circumstances. • Torture has been held to involve a very high degree of pain or suffering that is intentionally inflicted for a specific purpose. • Cruel and/or inhuman treatment also entails severe suffering. • Degrading treatment has been held to involve extreme humiliation of the victim. | • Conducting business in countries where State security or police forces protecting company assets do not respect this right. • Failure to foster a workplace that is free from severe forms of harassment that cause serious mental distress. • Manufacture and sale of equipment misused by third parties for torture or cruel treatment or for medical or scientific experimentation without their consent. |
| Right not to be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour | • Slavery exists when one human effectively owns another. • Freedom from servitude covers other forms of severe economic exploitation or degradation, such as in the trafficking of workers or debt bondage. • Rights to freedom from slavery and servitude are absolute rights. • Forced or compulsory labour is defined by the ILO as all work or service that is extracted under menace of any penalty and for which the person has not voluntarily offered themselves. • Providing payment does not mean that work is not forced labour if the other aspects of the definition are met. | • Businesses may unknowingly benefit through their supply chains from the labour of workers who have been trafficked and are forced to work as slaves, for example, on agricultural plantations. Women and children may be subject to particularly severe impacts in such situations. • A company may be involved in the transportation of people or goods that facilitates the trafficking of individuals. • Forced labour can arise in any sector where an employer puts workers in a position of debt bondage through company loans or the payment of fees to secure a job and/or where the company withholds workers’ identity documents. This is a particular risk in the case of migrant workers, a recognized vulnerable group. |
| Rights to liberty and security of the person | • These rights involve the prohibition of unlawful or arbitrary detention. • ‘Lawful’ detention is understood to mean that it must be authorized by an appropriate government body, such as the courts, and be capable of being challenged by the detainee. • ‘Arbitrary’ detention is always prohibited. • Security of the person includes protection from physical attacks, threats of such attacks, or other severe forms of harassment, whether or not a person is detained. | • Threatening staff with physical punishment or tolerating severe harassment of some employees, for example, of trade union members or members of a minority ethnic group. • A company whose supplier routinely allows sexual abuse of female workers to go unaddressed in their workplace. |
| Right of detained persons to humane treatment | • This right requires detention authorities to take special measures for the protection of detainees (such as separating juveniles from other detainees). | • Companies involved in the construction, operation or maintenance of detention facilities (such as a prison or immigration detention facility) where detainees are mistreated. |
| Right not to be subjected to imprisonment for inability to fulfil a contract | • This right applies where a person is incapable of meeting a private contractual obligation. • It restricts the type of punishment that the State can impose. | • Companies may be linked to such an impact where this right is not protected by the State, for example, where a small local supplier is genuinely unable to meet their contractual obligations and the company takes action against them. |
| Right to freedom of movement | • Individuals who are lawfully in a country have the right to move freely throughout it, to choose where to live and to leave. • Individuals also have the right not to be arbitrarily prevented from entering their own country. | • Relocation of communities because of company operations where that is conducted in an arbitrary or unreasonable manner, without adequate notice, consultation (and, at least in the case of indigenous peoples, consent), or compensation. • Employers withholding workers’ identification documents. |
| Right of aliens to due process when facing expulsion | • Aliens (meaning foreigners) who are legally present in a country are entitled to due process (meaning fair legal procedures) before being forced to leave. | • Where companies rely on migrant workers (either directly or through a third-party agency), there may be a risk of their operations being linked to such an impact. |
| Right to a fair trial | • Required in both civil and criminal proceedings, this includes the right to a public hearing before an impartial tribunal. • Additional protections are required in criminal proceedings. | • A business tries to corrupt the judicial process by destroying relevant evidence or by seeking to bribe or otherwise influence judges or witnesses to take certain actions or make certain statements. |
| Right to be free from retroactive criminal law | • The State is prohibited from imposing criminal penalties for an act that was not illegal when it was committed, or from imposing higher penalties than those that were in force at the time. | • Companies may be linked to such an impact, for example, where political dissidents protest about some aspect of a company’s operations and the State creates new, punitive measures to prosecute them. |
| Right to recognition as a person before the law | • All individuals are entitled to ‘legal personality’, or independent legal recognition. | • Companies may be linked to such an impact, for example, where they benefit from a State-led land acquisition process that pays compensation only to male heads of households because the property of married women is treated as belonging to their husbands under domestic law. |
| Right to privacy | • Individuals have a right to be protected from arbitrary, unreasonable or unlawful interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence and from attacks on their reputation. • The State is allowed to authorize restrictions on privacy in line with international human rights standards, but ‘arbitrary’ restrictions are always prohibited. | • Failing to protect the confidentiality of personal data held about employees or contract workers, customers or other individuals. • Requiring pregnancy testing as part of job applications. • Providing information about individuals to State authorities, without that individual’s permission, in response to requests that are illegal under national law and/or not in line with international human rights standards. • Selling equipment or technology that can be used to track or monitor individuals’ communications and movements to a State with a poor human rights record. |
| Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion | • Individuals have a right to choose, practise and observe their chosen religion or belief, to be an atheist or not to follow any religion or belief. • It includes the right to worship and to observe rituals, such as the wearing of particular clothing. | • A company’s policy prevents workers from wearing clothing or other symbols that express their faith, even though these do not interfere with legitimate safety or performance issues. • A company does not allow its workers to seek reasonable time off for their religious holidays. |
| Right to freedom of opinion and expression | • The right to hold opinions free from outside interference is an absolute right. • The right to hold opinions free from outside interference is an absolute right. • Individuals have a right to seek, receive and impart ideas in whatever media or form. The State is allowed to authorize restrictions in line with international human rights standards. | • Operating in a country where workers are routinely prevented by law from expressing their opinions in the public domain. • Censoring online or other content at the demand of the State where those requests are illegal under national law and/or not in line with international human rights standards. • Engaging in litigation against individual workers, community members or other stakeholders who have spoken critically about the company where there is an extreme imbalance in the parties’ means to fund a legal case. |
| Right to freedom from war propaganda and freedom from incitement to racial, religious or national hatred | • These rights prohibit certain speech that is not protected by the right to freedom of expression. • Individuals are prohibited from advocating racial, religious or national hatred that amounts to an incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. | • Companies that provide the platform or technology for individuals to express hatred against a particular religious group and to incite others to take certain action against them. |
| Right to freedom of assembly | • Individuals have the right to peacefully assemble for a specific purpose or where there is a public discussion, to put forward ideas or to engage in a demonstration, including marches. • The State is allowed to authorize restrictions in line with international human rights standards. | • Situations where public or private security services protecting company assets forcibly prevent or breakup peaceful demonstrations by the local community against a company’s operations. |
| Right to freedom of association | • Protects the right to form or join all types of association, including political, religious, sporting/recreational, non-governmental and trade union associations. (See also the right to form and join trade unions below.) • The State is allowed to authorize restrictions in line with international human rights standards. | • A company operates in an area where the State seeks to undermine a local political party that opposes the company’s activities by bringing false accusations against its leaders. • (See also the examples below under the right to form and join trade unions.) |
| Right to protection for the family and the right to marry | • The concept of a family varies. This includes the rights to enter freely into marriage and to start a family. | • Company policy discriminates against women on the basis of their marital or reproductive status. • (See also the examples below under the right to a family life.) |
| Rights of protection for the child | • A child has the right to be registered, given a name and to acquire a nationality. • Children must be protected from sexual and economic exploitation, including child labour. • ILO standards prohibit hazardous work for all persons under 18 years. They also prohibit labour for those under 15, with limited exceptions for developing States. | • Business activities that involve hazardous work (such as cutting sugar cane or mining) performed by persons under the age of 18. • Where child labour is discovered, a company can negatively impact other rights (such as the rights to an adequate standard of living, or security of the person) if they fail to take account of the best interests of the child in determining the appropriate response. For example, simply dismissing the child (or cutting the contract with the relevant supplier) may result in the child having to find alternative, more dangerous forms of work (such as prostitution). |
| Right to participate in public life | • Citizens have the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, including the rights to vote and be elected in free and fair elections, and the right of equal access to positions within the public service. | • Failing to give time off to workers for the purpose of voting. • Bribery of political figures or other improper uses of company influence may distort the electoral process or otherwise impede free and fair elections. |
| Right to equality before the law, equal protection of the law and rights of non-discrimination | • Individuals have a right not to be discriminated against, directly or indirectly, on various grounds, including race, ethnicity, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, and birth or other status (such as sexual orientation or health status, for example, having HIV/AIDS). • This right applies to the enjoyment of all other rights. The State is allowed to make distinctions where they are in line with international human rights standards. • ILO standards provide further guidance on the content of the right. | • Indirectly discriminating in the recruitment, remuneration or promotion of workers, for example, by offering a training programme that enhances an individual’s chance of promotion at a time that is reserved for religious observance by a particular group. • A company offers compensation to men and women in a situation where its operations or products have had negative impacts on their health in a way that discriminates against women (such as by failing to recognize the particular harm to their reproductive health). |
| Rights of minorities | • Members of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities are entitled to enjoy their own culture, practice their religion and speak their language. | • Failing to make reasonable adjustments for workers who wear a traditional form of headgear where that does not pose a legitimate safety or performance issue. • Using land in a manner that undermines the traditional way of life of a minority group, for example, by preventing them from ceremonial activities. |
| Right to work | • Individuals are entitled to the opportunity to make a living by work which they freely choose or accept. The work must be ‘decent work’, meaning that it respects their human rights. • The right includes the prohibition of arbitrary dismissal and the rights to just and favourable conditions of work and to form and join trade unions, discussed below. | • Arbitrarily or unfairly dismissing a worker, even if permissible under local law. • Hindering or failing to provide for the reasonable career advancement aspirations of workers. • (See also the examples under the rights to just and favourable conditions of work and to form and join trade unions.) |
| Right to enjoy just and favourable conditions of work | • Individuals have the right to fair remuneration and equal remuneration for work of equal value. Remuneration must enable them, and their families, to have a decent living. • The right includes safe and healthy conditions of work, equality of opportunity for promotion, and a right to rest, leisure and holidays. • ILO standards provide further guidance on the content of the right. | • Failing to address a pattern of accidents highlighting inadequate workplace health and safety. • A company’s purchasing practices repeatedly allow changes to the terms of product orders without any changes to price or delivery time, creating pressure on its suppliers, who then demand excessive overtime from their workers. • Using cleaning staff that are employed by a third-party company and are paid extremely low wages with no or very limited entitlements to sick pay or leave. |
| Right to form and join trade unions and right to strike | • Individuals have the right to form or join trade unions of their choice. • Trade unions must be permitted to function freely, subject only to limitations that are in line with international human rights standards. • Workers have the right to strike, in conformity with reasonable legal requirements. • ILO standards provide guidance on the content of the right, for example, that workers have the right to bargain collectively with their employers and that workers should not be discriminated against because of trade union membership. | • Creating barriers to the formation of trade unions among employees or contract workers. • Refusing or failing to recognize legitimate workers’ associations with which the company can enter into dialogue in countries that prohibit trade unions. |
| Right to social security, including social insurance | • This right obliges the State to create and maintain a system of social security that provides adequate benefits for a range of issues (such as injury or unemployment). | • Denying workers their contractually agreed employment injury benefits. • Offering a private social security scheme that has discriminatory eligibility criteria. |
| Right to a family life | • Protection should be given to families during their establishment, and while they are responsible for the care and education of dependent children. • The right includes special protections for working mothers. • The right also includes special protections for children. | • Company practices hinder the ability of workers to adopt a healthy work–life balance that enables them to adequately support their families (such as requiring workers to live on site in dormitories for extended periods of time without providing adequate periods of leave to enable them to spend time with their families). • (See also the examples in relation to the rights of protection for the child above.) |
| Right to an adequate standard of living | • This right includes access to adequate housing, food, clothing, and water and sanitation. • Individuals have a right to live somewhere in security, dignity and peace and that fulfils certain criteria (such as availability of utilities and accessibility). • Food should be available and accessible to individuals, in sufficient quality and quantity, to meet their nutritional needs, free from harmful substances and acceptable to their culture. • The right to water and sanitation was recognized as a distinct right in 2010. Individuals are entitled to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use and to sanitation services that fulfil certain criteria (such as being safe, physically accessible, and providing privacy and dignity). | • Poor-quality housing or dormitories provided to workers. Failing to provide adequate sanitation facilities for workers in a company-owned factory. • The expansion of a company’s operations significantly reduces the amount of arable land in an area, affecting local community members’ access to food. • Business activities pollute or threaten existing water resources in a way that significantly interferes with local communities’ ability to access clean drinking water. In such situations, there may be particular negative impacts on women and girls, who are responsible for water collection in many communities. |
| Right to health | • Individuals have a right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. • This includes the right to have control over one’s health and body, and freedom from interference. | • Pollution from business operations can create negative impacts on the health of workers and/or surrounding communities. • The sale of products that are hazardous to the health of end users or customers. • Failure to implement appropriate health and safety standards leads to long-term negative impacts on workers’ health. |
| Right to education | • All children have the right to free and compulsory primary education. • The right also includes equal access to education and equal enjoyment of educational facilities, among other aspects. | • The presence of child labour in a business or in its supply chain, where those children are unable to attend school. • Limiting access to, or damaging, educational facilities through construction, infrastructure or other projects. |
| Rights to take part in cultural life, to benefit from scientific progress, and to protection of the material and moral rights of authors and inventors | • Individuals have a right to take part in the cultural life of society and enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, especially disadvantaged groups. • This includes protection of an individual author’s moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production. • This protection extends to the rights of indigenous peoples to preserve, protect and develop indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and cultural expressions. | • Activities involving resource extraction or new construction (such as laying a pipeline or installing infrastructure networks) could impact this right by separating groups from areas of cultural importance and knowledge, or by damaging their cultural heritage. |
Workers’ rights
The commitment to workers’ rights is based on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The ILO is the UN’s specialized agency for employment and labour issues.
The declaration commits Member States to respect and promote fundamental principles and rights, regardless of whether they have ratified the fundamental conventions.
The core conventions are ten in number and concern five different areas:
- freedom of association and collective bargaining (ILO 87 and 98)
- forced labour (ILO 29 and 105)
- child labour (ILO 138 and 182)
- discrimination in employment (ILO 100 and 111)
- safe and healthy working environment (ILO 155 and ILO 187).
The commitment to workers’ rights also includes the promotion of a living wage, reasonable working hours and regular employment. This section of the Supplier Code of Conduct has been developed in close dialogue with the ILO and is based on Ethical Trading Initiative’s Base Code.
(Video in Swedish)
The environment
The environmental commitment is divided into two parts.
The commitment to climate and environmental impact is about:
- compliance with national environmental legislation
- promotion of climate measures that contribute to achieving national and international climate goals
- reduction in the use of virgin raw materials
- no use of raw materials from species listed in CITES
- control or evaluation of chemical use including, if applicable, substitution and/or implementation of alternative processes
- storing, handling, transport and disposal of waste in a manner that protects the health of workers, people in surrounding communities and the environment
- promition of strategies for efficient water use where applicable
- reduction or elimination of emissions that pose a danger to health and the environment.
The commitment to environmental rights begins with people’s right to self-determination and to freely dispose of natural wealth and natural resources. A people must in no case be deprived of their means of livelihood. The commitment then includes a statement that illegal eviction or taking over of land, forest or water must not occur. There is also a special provision that indigenous peoples’ right to land, territories and natural resources must be respected, including the right to free, prior and informed consent. Finally, the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment shall be respected.
(Video in Swedish)
Business ethics
The commitment to business ethics covers corruption, anti-competitive behavior and taxation. The scope is wider than that of the UN Global Compact, which only covers corruption — the only topic covered by the regions’ previous code of conduct for suppliers.
Counteracting anti-competitive behavior is crucial for a well-functioning market. The commitment is based on the OECD Guidance for Multinational Enterprises, which emphasize the importance of avoiding agreements that distort competition or abuse a dominant position.
Regarding taxation, the commitment — developed in collaboration with the Swedish Tax Agency — aims to prevent the misuse of welfare systems, ensure that companies pay the correct tax in the right country, and promote fair competition.
(Video in Swedish)
Connection to what is purchased
In public procurement, contract clauses must relate to the subject matter of procurement, which means that they must have a clear connection to what is purchased. This is stated in Chapter 17, Section 1, second paragraph, of the Public Procurement Act, with reference to Chapter 16, Section 2, second paragraph, of the same Act:
“An award criterion is considered to be connected to the supplies, services or works to be purchased if the criterion in some way relates to the supplies, services or works at any time during their life cycle.”
This also means that public buyers can set requirements that take into account the entire supply chain. However, the responsibility for adverse impacts depends on whether the supplier causes, contributes to, or is linked to the adverse impact.
Supplier Code of Conduct & Due Diligence
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Spend 15 minutes on our training. (in Swedish)
Guidance for suppliers on fulfilling the contract clause
Introduction to the contract clause
We explain what the contract clause is, why it exists, which international frameworks it is based on, and the extent of your responsibility.
Supplier’s commitments
We describe what is meant by human rights, workers’ rights, the environment, and business ethics.
Supplier’s due diligence
We explain what is included in identifying, assessing preventing, mitigating, and remedying adverse impacts.
Supplier’s reporting obligation
We clarify what you must do if you have reasonable grounds to assume that severe deviations are occurring or have occurred.