Consultation on a Proposal to Verify Labour Standards in the Apparel Industry - Outcomes and Recommendations

Annex IV

 

Summary of ETAG Policy Recommendations

The following summary was distributed by the ETAG group during the discussion on November 28, 2003.

1.   Factory Disclosure Regulations requiring companies to publicly disclose the names and addresses of all manufacturing facilities making apparel and other textile products sold in Canada.

2.   Social Reporting Regulations requiring companies to provide annual public reports on their efforts and progress in achieving compliance with ILO Core Conventions in their supply chains. If the government chooses to go beyond labour rights issues in the garment sector, it could require social reporting of all large companies on their efforts and progress in achieving compliance with the draft UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises.

3.   Incentives offering preference by federal departments, agencies and other bodies in the procurement of apparel and other textile products and the granting of loans, grants, overseas investment insurance and other benefits to companies that have adopted codes of conduct that are consistent with ILO Core Conventions, are using credible third-party auditors to verify compliance with those standards, and are making public summaries of all audit reports and corrective action taken.

 

4.   Labour Standards Provisions in Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements with garment producing countries linking increased market access to compliance with ILO Core Conventions and providing for transparent monitoring and reporting on efforts and progress toward achieving compliance.

5.   Support for Capacity-building Projects with southern civil society and labour organizations and labour ministry inspectors so that they can more effectively monitor and enforce compliance with ILO Core Conventions and local labour laws. The government should also support projects that provide labour rights training for workers and management personnel in southern garment producing countries.

Ethical Trading Action Group (ETAG), November 28, 2003

Table of Contents I Annex V