Transparency and Due Diligence

Across the world, organisations globally are being swept up in a metaphorical ESG regulatory net. This new era of regulation requires companies to assess human rights and environmental risks within their supply chains and report proactively on their mitigation efforts. But how to address this increasing need for supply chain due diligence and transparency? And how to collect and assess the detailed information these regulations require to comply with their rigorous reporting requirements?

A cost-effective solution

The Achilles Transparency & Due Diligence Module is a simple, efficient and cost-effective way for companies to access the qualitative and quantitative human rights and environmental information that they need to comply with new supply chain due diligence legislation.

In its simplest form, the Module is a dynamic, online vendor questionnaire that provides a standardised way for suppliers to provide the information that larger companies need for compliance.

The information collected provides a clear picture of the end-to-end supply chain, enables supply chain risk to be assessed, identifies where due diligence actions, support and improvement are most required, and produce the all-important reports required to demonstrate regulatory compliance.

Reducing the burden on suppliers

Importantly, vendors complete the form once and the information they provide can then be accessed by multiple customers and prospects – helping to reduce the impact of new legislation on the supply chain. The Achilles Transparency & Due Diligence Module also provides an effective way for suppliers to demonstrate their openness in sharing human rights and environmental information as well as their alignment to internationally recognised standards.

Why is it important?

The Achilles Transparency & Due Diligence Module is an increasingly important element of our supply chain risk management and due diligence service. It’s important for several reasons including:

  • Alignment to International Standards – By aligning itself to international standards and conventions the module enables us to evaluate a company’s alignment to fundamental principles that countries around the world are signatories of. It has also been aligned with existing international supply chain due diligence legislation including the Lieferkettengesetz in Germany and Åpenhetsloven in Norway.
  • Increased Transparency – Identifying human rights and environmental risks and opportunities within international supply chains is a complex task and is multifaceted. The module enables company’s to provide information on what they are doing, as well as identifying areas that they may need support to improve on. Greater transparency enables greater opportunity to improve.
  • Continued Improvement – By analysing the data within our module we can support customers, industry and government bodies in identifying areas that require improvement. Findings from our existing questionnaires and audits have been used by international industry bodies and governments to improve prospects for people and the planet.
  • Promoting Collaboration – Our Transparency Module enables businesses around the world and supply chains to collaborate on improving risks and promoting opportunities. Transparent information, visible to multinational companies supports businesses in making the right, sustainable decisions.

Who can add the Transparency and Due Diligence questions?

Some suppliers will have the Transparency and Due Diligence questions included in their existing package. Suppliers with the any of following subscriptions should not purchase the Transparency and Due Diligence module:

  • UNCE Silver, Silver+
  • TransQ Silver
  • Achilles Network Silver+
  • Global Energy Silver+, Gold Desktop

All other suppliers can choose to add the Transparency and Due Diligence module to their account via the Manage Subscriptions area of the MyAchilles portal.

The questions

The Transparency and Due Diligence question set contains approximately 100 questions with minimal requirement for document upload or free text response. The questions will be split out into sections, rather than grouped together. Many suppliers that add the question set to an existing Silver or Silver+ subscription will find that a number of the questions have already been answered as part of their standard questionnaire. The below grid details the questions that make up the Transparency and Due Diligence module.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated on 30th October 2024

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles