Public Comment Update
As scheduled, the Public Comment survey for our draft APSCA Code of Professional Conduct and the Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors closed on 31 August 2017.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to provide feedback.  We were very excited to have over 70 people/ groups respond and from such a broad range including representatives from auditors (which included employed, freelance and sub-contractors), audit firms, brand/ retailers, consultants, NGO and manufacturers. 

Whilst the satisfaction rate for the documents was 90+%, obviously there were still a few that were dissatisfied and we appreciated the fact that they were able to clearly articulate where they saw the gaps and we are now in the process of reviewing these.

Highlights of the comments:
·     Reader did not review the Competency Framework – many of their comments would have been answered through reading both documents.
·     How will APSCA validate the Code is being upheld and the auditors meet the expectations within the Competency Framework.
·     How will APSCA investigate allegations of failing to uphold the Code.
·     More detail for each section of the Code, ie. examples, what does good look like?
·     Suggest Separating the Code – Auditors and Audit Firms.
·     Concerns that the Competency Framework is setting a global strategy for a few large firms and attempting to lock out smaller firms.
·     Will APSCA produce a separate Competency Framework for the Audit Firms?
·     Will APSCA determine how audit reports should be scored, centralize the collection of audits and set standard, hold calibration sessions, set time period to upload reports etc.?
·     APSCA to develop a professional / knowledge center.
​
Response:
Whilst the documents were out for Public Comment, we began the work to define an objective process for receiving, managing and conducting investigations on complaints. 

Also under development is the examination format/ questions which will be piloted in November in Turkey and China.

The Rules, which were part of the Code development process completed by Working Group 3, were removed for Public Comment as they were not quite ready late June, however, this is part of our next step.

There will be two codes, one for Auditors and one for Audit Firms.

We have not discussed two Competency Frameworks, however, we will consider this as we will consider a professional/ knowledge center and how this fits within APSCA’s strategy.

It has not been the intent that APSCA will determine how audit reports are scored, to centralize the collection of audits or set standards, nor does APSCA intend to specify the length of time between the audit being conducted and the report uploaded.  This is the role of the Initiative, Brand/ Retailer and beyond what we see the overall expectations of APSCA are.

Again, we thank you for all the feedback.  This is a major milestone for APSCA and we look forward to keeping our members up-to-date in the coming months regarding the finalpublished documents.  Should you have additional questions please email us on:  director@theapsca.org

New APSCA Members
APSCA continues to grow and we are pleased to announce 8 new members this month:   ALGI International Inc., Best Compliance Limited, Centre Testing International Group Co., Ltd (CTI),​ CSR Certification and Solutions Limited,  Globalgroup Certification Limited, Leverage Limited, Madeown International Testing Certification Inc. and QMSCERT Audits Inspections Certifications Ltd (Q-CERT).   

This now brings our membership to 34 with many other membership applications in progress.

Welcome to our new members!

General Meeting 2017
A reminder for APSCA members that our 2nd General Meeting is scheduled in Koln, Germany on 4 December – 13:00 – 15:00.

Please follow the link below to our website for further details and to register your participation no later than 30 October 2017 –
http://www.theapsca.org/general-meeting-registration.html

Note:  the password for this page was detailed in the email invitation forwarded to all members.  Should you need this password again please email us:  director@theapsca.org

APSCA Support Statement
​The APSCA Stakeholder Board has developed a Support Statement following many requesting how they could more formally offer their support to APSCA’s efforts, beyond the working/ consultation groups.  This has been officially launched this week and you will find a copy of the support statement on our website: http://www.theapsca.org/support-statement.html​
We are very excited to have a number of supporters from around the world provide permission to use their name/ logo and would welcome even more of you!  If you would like to offer your support and have your organization’s name / logo placed on our website, please let us know by contacting director@theapsca.org

BSR Conference 2017
The BSR 25th anniversary Conference, “How Business Leads”, will be held 24 – 26 October in Huntington Beach, California, USA.

APSCA will be presenting as part of the panel focused on “Integrating Sustainability through Risk and Opportunities” on Wednesday 25 October 4.15pm.
 If you are able to join the session please come and say “Hi”.

To learn more follow this link:  http://bsr17.org/

Stay Up-To-Date
Visit our website www.theapsca.org to see the work-in-progress and follow us on LinkedIn.

Public Comment Invitation
Draft Code of Professional Conduct & Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors

As per our announcement in the APSCA June 2017 Newsletter, APSCA has now released for Public Comment the draft APSCA Code of Professional Conduct and the Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors.

We are excited to have reached this milestone and invite all stakeholders in the social compliance industry to provide feedback as we near the finalization, release and implementation of the certification process for social compliance auditors.

Follow the link to our website to log your feedback via survey monkey:   http://www.theapsca.org/public-comment.html
Please note the surveys will be open until 31 August 2017.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us:  director@theapsca.org

APSCA Implementation Team
With the progress towards public comment for the draft APSCA Code of Professional Conduct (Code) and Competency Framework Social Compliance Auditors,  APSCA has commenced work on the implementation process for the Auditor Certification process.

We have received interest from some wanting to participate on the consultation group – if you are interested please let us know by emailing director@theapsca.org.  We appreciate support from member firms, brands, retailers, schemes, initiatives and any interested party.  Whilst this is being developed for certification of auditors, we appreciate and need feedback from those that will be the user and receiver of the services provided by the auditors.​
We anticipate the ask to be a couple of 1 hour phone calls over the coming few months plus request for feedback to documentation as it is being developed.  The goal is to pilot the examination process during Q4 – specific country(s) TBA.
Look forward to having your participation as we continue to move forward.

APSCA Annual General Meeting

The APSCA Annual General Meeting will be held on the 45 December 2017 in Cologne, Germany.  All members are invited to participate in the General Meeting and more information will be shared with members in the coming weeks.

​Out & About
Remember to view the “Out & About” page on our website and send any photos of APSCA members attending meetings, conferences and forums.  We want to share all the great work you are doing.   Check it out!    http://www.theapsca.org/out–about.html

Should you have any photos to share, please email us at director@theapsca.org

​APSCA Membership
Our Membership is continually growing, and we look forward to announcing our new member in the August edition of our Newsletter. For more information on becoming a member of APSCA, please see our website: http://www.theapsca.org/membership.html or email: director@theapsca.org

Public Comment Invitation
Draft Code of Professional Conduct &
​Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors

As you are aware, APSCA has been moving towards its Mission “To Enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organsations performing independent social compliance audits”. This has involved APSCA utilizing Working and Consultation groups, which comprised of industry experts and practitioners, who have been integral in the development of the APSCA Code of Professional Conduct and the Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors.

We are excited to be opening these draft documents for Public Comment to ensure all stakeholders in the social compliance industry have an opportunity to provide feedback as we near the finalization, release and implementation of the certification process for social compliance auditors.

Please follow the link to the Public Comment page on our website to log your feedback:  http://www.theapsca.org/public-comment.html

Please note the surveys will be open until 31 August 2017.

New Member Firm
APSCA’S Executive Board is pleased to announce a new member firm this month; LSQA.  This brings our total firm membership to 24.
APSCA’s membership is continuing to grow with another three firms undergoing the application process, which includes Third Party Due Diligence and an interview to ensure all our members meet APSCA’s standards.
Welcome LSQA to APSCA!

For more information on becoming a member of APSCA, please see our website: http://www.theapsca.org/membership.html or email: director@theapsca.org

APSCA – Executive Board Meeting
The APSCA Executive Board met in London in June to review the Code of Professional Conduct and Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors and prepare for the release of those documents for public comment.

Left to Right:  Wesley Wilson, Avedis Seferian (APSCA, Chair), Rona Starr, Greg Gardner, Antonio Astone,
​Pierre-Yves Dupont, Frank Dorssers.
Absent from Photo but present at the meeting:  Randy Rankin, Betty Hutchison, Christophe Liebon & Fred Waelter.

APSCA’s Work-In-Progress
With the progress towards public comment for the draft APSCA Code of Professional Conduct and Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors,  APSCA hosted a session to brainstorm what Implementation and a pilot could look like.  This team met 14 June in London and had productive discussions to move this work forward.

The session comprised of representatives from Arche Advisors, DNV GL, Elevate, GSCP, ICS, LRQA, Sedex, SGS, Walmart, WRAP and APSCA.

Left to Right:  Alberto Sartori (DNV), Kevin Franklin (Elevate), Cecile Huertas (ICS),  Sonja Schmid (GSCP),  Wesley Wilson (Walmart), Randy Rankin (Independent),  Rona Starr (APSCA), Avedis Seferian (WRAP), Effie Marinos (SGS).
Absent from photo but present at the meeting:  Greg Gardner (Arche Advisors), Ged Farmer (LRQA),
​Jonathan Ivelaw-Chapman (Sedex) and Peter Marriott (SGS).

​FTA (BSCI) Unleash Opportunity Conference
APSCA attended the BSCI Meeting in Brussels in June 2017 where 3 members / stakeholders participated on the “Planning for 2030 – The Future of Supply Chains and Auditing” discussion panel.

Left to Right:  Jonathan Ivelaw-Chapman (Sedex), Christophe Liebon (Intertek), Ian Spaulding (Elevate).

APSCA Auditor Round Table Sessions
APSCA conducted “Auditor Round Table” sessions during June in Paris, London, Shenzhen and Shanghai.  This was an opportunity for us to share the progress which APSCA has made as well as discuss the draft Code of Professional Conduct and Competency Framework for Social Compliance Auditors, gather feedback and answer their questions. 

Discussions were robust and productive and gave APSCA the forum to meet face-to-face with our Member Firms, local managers and auditors, which is invaluable to our ongoing progress.
​
Thanks to all that attended these sessions!

Launch of “Out & About”
We have created a new page on our website to showcase the numerous meetings, conferences and forums our member firms attend.  Check it out!    http://www.theapsca.org/out–about.html

Should you have any photos to share, please email us at director@theapsca.org

New Member Firm
APSCA is pleased to announce another new member firm: Verner Wheelock Associates Limited.  This takes our membership to 23.
​ We welcome Verner Wheelock and look forward to their contribution moving forward.

​
​New Sedex Representative on Stakeholder Board
Jonathan Ivelaw-Chapman (CEO, Sedex Group) has joined the Stakeholder Board representing Sedex.  Sedex are committed to APSCA’s mission to enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organisations performing independent social compliance audits. 

Welcome Jonathan! 

Sedex Responsible Sourcing Conferences
In April May, APSCA participated in the three Sedex Conferences held in London, Shanghai and Sydney.
​These presented great opportunities to talk and network with a range of stakeholders in the industry and to promote the benefits membership to APSCA brings.  Brands were particularly interested in understanding APSCA’s work and the credibility it will bring to social compliance auditors via the certification process. 

Rona Starr (APSCA) presenting at the Sedex Conference in April in London, UK.

Amy Yan (SGS) supported Rona Starr (APSCA) at the Sedex Conference in May in Shanghai, China.

Sedex Conference in May in Sydney, Australia. 
Left to Right:  Richard Boele (KPMG Australia), Rona Starr (APSCA), Andrew Martin (Foreign Trade Association),
​David Mullen (Simplot Australia).

Intertek Ethical Sourcing Forum
​APSCA were proud to participate at the Intertek Ethical Sourcing Forum in New York on 5 May to share and discuss APSCA’s progress towards the development of a certification process for social compliance auditors.  Our panel was made up of members from both our Executive and Stakeholder Boards.

Left to Right:  Rona Starr (APSCA), Wesley Wilson (Walmart), Avedis Seferian (WRAP), Laura Rubbo (The Walt Disney Company), Greg Gardner (Arche Advisors), Christophe Liebon (Intertek).  Photo taken by David Schilling (ICCR).

​Annual Members’ Meeting – Social Labor Convergence Project
The Social & Labor Convergence Project is facilitated by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC).  The Annual Members’ Meeting was held in Bangalore, India in May which was attended by APSCA’s Executive Board Chair, Avedis Seferian and Tara Holeman, APSCA Working Group 1 member. 
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s vision is of an apparel, footwear, and home textiles industry that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities associated with its activities.

Avedis Seferian (APSCA Chair) and Tara Holeman (Working Group 1 member) presenting at the Annual Member’s Meeting in Bangalore, India.

To receive up-to-date information regarding APSCA and our work in progress ensure you sign-up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn if you haven’t already!  

New APSCA Members
APSCA’s Executive Board are pleased to announce the acceptance of 3 new member organisations, bringing APSCA’s membership to 22.  The new members are Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions, Extensive Standard Technical Services Co., Limited (ESTS) and Openview Service Limited.    

These new members have demonstrated the competencies required via an application process, Third Party Due Diligence and an interview, to ensure all members are professional organisations which meet APSCA’s standards.

APSCA is very excited to be growing at this pace, having 9 founding members in August 2016 and growing to 22 in April 2017.

Please join us in welcoming our new members!

New Stakeholder Board Member
​APSCA is pleased to announce that Betsy Borrelli, Senior Vice President & Partner – FleishmanHillard New York has joined APSCA’s Stakeholder Board.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Borrelli has more than 20 years of global experience focused on issue, reputation and crisis management. This includes stakeholder engagement, communications and corporate social responsibility. She is known for creating strategic alliances and mobilizing, leading and managing multi-stakeholder groups and internal cross-functional teams in addressing complex issues and initiatives. Her work has spanned across the consumer product, pharmaceutical, apparel, airline and financial services sectors.  

Industry Meetings
APSCA’s Executive Director was privileged to be invited to present “What’s New Within APSCA” at both the Sedex Stakeholder Forum and AIM-Progress meeting, held in London in early April.

Rona Starr, Executive Director APSCA, presenting at the AIM-Progress Meeting (photo taken by Transitional Media.

We also participated in two very informative sessions hosted by KPMG.  The first was held in the House of Lords in London and later that day in the KPMG offices in London.  These sessions focussed on Human Rights – Risk to People or Risk to Business?    Both events started with an informative opening by Lord Dr Hastings of Scarisbrick with reflections by various people including Richard Boele (Head KPMG’s Global Business & Human Rights Network).

For access to “Addressing Human Rights in Business, Executive Perspectives”  click the link below:

Addressing Human Rights in Business – Executive Perspectives

Closing out the week, APSCA participated in a working session with 20 other organisations, hosted by Consumer Goods Forum focusing on Forced Labour. 

We are very excited about the opportunities to meet, hear what others are working on and discussing ways in which we can work together for the greater good of our industry and to improve the overall lives of those which we come into contact with.

Lord Dr Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, Global Head of Corporate KPMG
and Rona Starr, Executive Director APSCA.

APSCA Milestones
In February we published our milestones for how we were going to achieve our goal of establishing a certification process for Social Compliance Auditors.  We have been tracking very successfully towards that goal, however, as we continued to make progress we realised the need to make a few changes to our plans.  Our enhanced milestone goals see us taking all 3 Working Groups out to Public Comment in June, instead of our original plan of going individually – starting in March.  So whilst it may be perceived as having missed a major milestone, this change will actually see us finalise earlier than anticipated. We are very grateful to our Working Group members as well as our Consultation Group members for their continued participation and feedback, which sees us grow and succeed.

Below are our updated High Level Milestones or refer to our website www.theapsca.org

To receive up-to-date information regarding APSCA and our work in progress visit our website www.theapsca.org. Ensure you sign-up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn if you haven’t already!  ​

Human Rights Outlook Report 2017
Verisk Maplecroft
Verisk Maplecroft is an internationally recognized source of human rights data, research and consultancy services who have been working in the field for 10+ years.  Recently they published a Human Rights Outlook Report for 2017.  Following is the link to that report

Verisk Maplecroft Human Rights Outlook Report for 2017
Earlier this year they requested an interview from APSCA to understand what we believed to be wrong with social audits, what we were trying to do as an organization and how our auditor certification program will work.  Please see the results of that interview in Section 1 of the report.
APSCA aims to certify the first round of auditors in January 2018, beginning with three to five major countries.  Our Working and Consultation Groups have been making great progress in defining the prerequisites, skills and competencies that a social auditor should hold and the relevant auditor level to which they will be accredited. 

Working Groups’ Update
The three working groups have made great progress since work began last year.   The published project plans had us going to Public Comment for the various working groups independently (with Working Group 1 due to go to Public Comment this month), but as we were nearing the completion of this work and obtaining feedback, it was determined it would be more effective if we held back and went to Public Comment with a complete package.
 APSCA are now moving to engage experts in the human resources field to take the information completed thus far by the working groups and to consolidate.  Then we will start the process of socialising this work and calling on the Working / Consultation Groups for feedback.   This will then be shared with the Executive Board in early May.
 We are currently working on our modified High Level Milestones for each of the working groups and this will be uploaded to our website shortly.  APSCA is still moving ahead at a great pace to meet our longer term desired outcome to formalise the accreditation process for APSCA registered auditors and ensuring we develop a framework to professionalise the social compliance auditing industry.

​Social & Labor Convergence Team Meeting
In February, Avedis Seferian (APSCA Chair) and Rona Starr (APSCA Executive Director) had the opportunity to meet and spend a few hours working with the Social and Labor (S&L) Convergence Project Team in Amsterdam.  The focus of this meeting was to continue the conversation about how APSCA and S&L can work closely and to begin developing a framework to articulate the expectation of our business relationship.  While the two initiatives are quite distinct in their core missions, the discussion explored areas of common interest and intersection, with avenues of partnering for mutual benefit emerging. More to come on this front in the coming months.

From Left to Right:  Avedis Seferian (APSCA Chair), Baptise Carriere-Pradal (VP-EU, SAC), Rona Starr (APSCA Executive Director), Janet Mensink (S&L Convergence Project Director), Christian Smith (S&L Convergence Project Manager).

Working Groups’ (WG) UpdateThe three working groups continue to make progress and are committed to their project plans.  As we stay focused on our overall desired outcome of “creating a license to operate” for social compliance auditors, similar to CPA for Accounting or the BAR for legal, our working groups are hard at work.
 
WG1 (Identify Categories) – Presented a framework document to both the Consultation Group as well as WG2.  Once finalized, WG2 will define auditor competencies required to identify / verify during a social audit.  The framework document contains a list of categories which occur in social audits.  Feedback has been received from the Consultation Group, WG2, the Executive & Stakeholder Boards.  All feedback is being incorporated into the next draft which will be shared for public comment in March 2017.

WG2 (Identify Auditor Levels Auditor Competencies) – Presented preliminary Auditor Levels with definitions to the Consultation Group as well as the Executive & Stakeholder Boards.  All feedback is being incorporated and the pre-requisites to obtain each level are being defined.

WG3 (Develop a Professional Code of Conduct) – After much benchmarking, WG3 have developed and presented the preliminary Code of Professional Conduct to the Consultation Group and are in the process of incorporating the feedback. 
To receive up-to-date information regarding APSCA and our work in progress visit our website www.theapsca.org. Ensure you sign-up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn if you haven’t already! ​

Celebrating Our First 100 Days It has been 100 days since APSCA kicked off full time…. and as the saying goes….. success or failure is made in the first 100 days.  

In the spirit of Christmas, we would like to take a moment and thank you for being part of APSCA and ask you to join us in celebrating our success.  Below are 6 of our 2016 achievements and our top 3, 2017 goals.

2016 Achievements:

• Implementation of objective Membership Process
• Increased membership from 9 to 17 firms
• Working Groups well established 
  • Roadmap/ Projects Plans complete for working groups 1 and 3 (working group 2 not far behind)
• General Meeting with the following achievements held 1-3 November:
  • Election of the Executive Board, including Chair
  • APSCA Charter and 2017 Budget approved by Members
  • 15 separate meetings with over 100 people participating 
• Development of foundational and process documents including document control policy
• Over 200 calls/ meetings

Top 3 Goals for 2017:

• Working Groups deliver against project plans (updates will be posted on website commencing January 2017)
• Auditor registration portal launched
• Disciplinary committee established

​From all of us at APSCA, thanks for your ongoing support.  We wish you and your families the best for the holiday season! .

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Rona Starr & Julie Shaw

To receive up-to-date information regarding APSCA and our work in progress visit our website www.theapsca.org. Ensure you sign-up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn if you haven’t already! 

The Executive Director of the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) is pleased to announce during the Inaugural General Meeting, the following members were elected by their peers to the Executive Board.

“APSCA is officially up and running to fulfil its mission of enhancing the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits. This marks a real turning point for this industry and to begin the journey of setting, maintaining, and raising standards for professionals engaged in providing the very challenging and very important service of social audits,” said Avedis Seferian, Chair, Executive Board.

​The three working groups also came together during this week, consulting with their extended members as progress continues on audit definition, auditor competencies and audit firm requirements.  Working Group 1 and 2 also held open sessions to commence the public feedback component of their work.  We will be updating the website with this information in the coming weeks. 

“We were pleased to host over 100 participants this week in New York – these face-to-face meetings saw the 3 working groups make great progress and we are energized by the level of engagement,” said Rona Starr, Executive Director.
​
To receive up-to-date information regarding APSCA, our work in progress and a biographical profile of each of the Executive Board Members, visit our website www.theapsca.org, sign-up to receive our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.  

APSCA Executive Board L-R Front Row: Avedis Seferian (Chair), Betty Hutchison (BV), Rona Starr (APSCA), Pierre Yves Dupont (SGS), Greg Gardner (Arche), Christophe Liebon (Intertek) Back Row: Frank Dorssers (TUV), Randy Rankin (Independent), Wesley Wilson (WalMart), Josh Warren (UL), Antonio Astone (DNV GL)

London, 29 September 2016

The interim Executive Board of the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) is pleased to announce the acceptance of eight new member organizations, bringing APSCA’s membership to 17.  The new members are:  AsiaInspection Limited, AUS-MEAT Limited, Control Union, DNV GL – Business Assurance, DQS CFS GmbH, Insite Compliance LLC, International Compliance Group Inc., and SMT-Global (Global Strategy Management Technology Co. Limited).
 
These organizations have demonstrated the competencies required via an application process, 3rd party due diligence and an interview to ensure members are professional organizations which meet APSCA’s standards.
 
These organizations will play key roles in helping shape the ongoing work of enhancing the professionalism and credibility of individual auditors and organizations performing independent social compliance audits.
 
“This is an exciting time for APSCA as we continue moving forward with our mission and objectives.  I am looking forward to working closely with all of our member organizations,” said Rona Starr, Executive Director, APSCA.