IUCAB Recommended Code of Conduct

IUCAB recommends that its National Member Associations shall make their members aware of the following recommendations for the operation of their business in compliance with the standards and ethical practices listed below which include those expressed in the UN Convention for Children as well as the ILO Convention regarding Working Conditions and Rights and the EU Regulation on chemical law REACH.

The following engagement criteria primarily address issues under the control of business partners, suppliers and vendors.
A prior examination should be made of the social, political and business environments of the countries where any kind of cooperation is planned.

Business should only be done with those who use sound and legal practices, minimize the potential for conflicts of interest, prohibit the giving or receiving of gifts and gratuities, place the utmost importance in truth and full disclosure, and comply with all specifications, quality criteria and product requirements.

All business partners should be committed to a safe and healthy work place and should comply with all applicable laws and regulations that apply to health and safety. Furthermore, there should be appropriate methods for dealing with hazardous materials. All partners providing residential facilities should maintain them in a healthy and safe manner.

All business partners should be committed to environmentally safe practices and should be in compliance with local, national, federal and international regulations. Care should be taken with    environmentally sensitive substances or processes.
All business partners involved in production should seek to actively minimize its environmental effects and follow local law and regulations including the EU Regulation on chemical law REACH. Forbidden chemical substances are unacceptable.

Business should only be done with those who do not subject their workers to physical risks, recognise the right of free association, and do not exploit their workers. Mental or physical threats and physical punishment of any kind should not be allowed.
Wages and benefits should comply with the law and prevailing local practice. All fees and/or wages deductions should be fair and reasonable. Working hours must be preset on a daily, weekly and monthly basis with compensation for overtime. Child labour should not be used by partners, suppliers or their suppliers. A child is a person under the age of 16 years, or 14 years depending on national legislation. No forced or prison labour should be used by partners, suppliers or their suppliers.
 Non-discrimination, cultural diversity should be supported and employment practices should be based on skills and abilities. Business should not be done with those who discriminate in any way.
Corruption, including blackmailing and bribes, should not be tolerated.

The intention is only to do business with partners, sources and vendors who contribute to the betterment of their communities and who train and develop their workers.

The IUCAB Recommended Code of Conduct is based on the following documents and is created in accordance with:

• UN’s conventions on Human Rights including Children’s Rights
  http://www.hrweb.org/
• ILO’s (International Labour Organisation, a trade union organisation within the UN – system) conventions on working conditions and workers rights in the work place
  http://www.ilo.org/
  
• The Rio declaration on Environment and Development
  http://www.unep.org/
• The UN’s convention on corruption
  http://www.unodc.org/
  
• Social Accountability International — Human Rights at Work, SA8000
  http://www.sa-intl.org/
  
• Standard providing guidelines for social responsibility, ISO26000
  http://isotc.iso.org/
• Business Social Compliance Initiative, BSCI Code of Conduct
  http://www.bsci-eu.org/