FJATA Compliance Initiative

 

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For years the Fashion Jewelry & Accessories Trade Association (FJATA) has effectively led the industry on regulatory compliance. It has now taken on a leadership role in terms of social compliance, first by adopting the FJATA Code of Conduct in 2013 and now with the FJATA Compliance Initiative developed in partnership with Sumerra, a Compliance consulting leader in the Apparel & Footwear industries. In reviewing shared responsibilities among members, FJATA identified a dire need for an industry Compliance Initiative.

Shared Responsibilities between FJATA and the Industry:

  • We share a common need to ensure that factories producing for our brands meet social compliance requirements and adhere to high ethical standards.
  • We have a social responsibility to every worker throughout our entire supply chain.
  • We have a corporate responsibility to protect the integrity of the brands we distribute, as well as, the integrity of our company.
  • We have a responsibility to meet our customers’ expectations that every worker involved in the supply chain for all our product offerings is treated fairly and safely.

Existing audit programs encourage redundancy, inefficiency, excessive costs and little or no education to factories. Although these programs have been used for many years, they do not raise the bar on compliance effectively. By having one shared program, the industry can rise to meet the compliance requirements of the 21st century and their clients.

The Initiative takes a phased in approach to enhancing Social Compliance. Sumerra developed the bulk of the Initiative with oversight and input from the FJATA CSR Committee (participating companies) and Task Force.

Phase I Standards and Audit Tools

The first phase will build out the FJATA Compliance Standards (factory guidelines) which factories will need to follow and a FJATA Audit Tool that will verify compliance against the standards and legal requirements. They will focus not only Labor, but also on Health & Safety and Environmental issues. Once these are built and implemented,

Phase II Audit Management Program

The Audit Management program provides a sharing platform for audits as well as corrective action plans and remediation. Collaborative efforts by participating companies will help to reduce the number of audits and CAPs that factories have to endure. The Sumerra team will schedule the audits, verify the audit reports, develop the CAP and will review the remediation progress made by the factory. Participating companies who wish to engage on a particular audit, will receive the audit report, CAP and updates on the progress made on the CAP. Participating factories will receive the audit findings and CAP. The program will reduce audit and overhead costs for both companies and factories.

Phase III Factory Education

The third phase of the Initiative involves collaborative education and training. Sumerra, with input from members of the CSR Committee & audit finding results, will develop webinars and group trainings for the industry. In addition, the Sumerra team also plans on providing educational information in FJATA newsletters. These efforts will help to increase awareness on specific topics and help factories to develop their own internal compliance programs.

Phase IV Sustainability

The final phase, Sustainability, will be designed to improve factory social responsibility on an ongoing basis, using the achievements of the first three phases to promote a positive work environment for factory employees and the surrounding locale. The CSR Committee will streamline this process continually as it receives information related to the industry’s needs and desires to increase sustainable environmental awareness and protocols.