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Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX)
Convening a group of companies to develop an IT solution for managing ethical trading data
In 2002, Impactt convened a group of retailers and suppliers to create a data sharing system aiming to allow participants to access information about labour standards at shared suppliers in order to:
- Build efficiency
- Build cost-effectiveness
- Concentrate effort on improving labour standards in the supply chain
Impactt developed a draft data-sharing model based on the following principles:
- Subsidiarity: data to be held at the lowest practicable point in the supply chain using a password protected web-based system. Each supplier/site would be required to maintain a common-format password-protected webpage.
- Data owned and paid for by supplier/sites
- Supplier/site controls access to data which may be made available to purchasers in a trading relationship
- Development of shared, lowest common denominator, initial assessment, audit/assessment and compliance/improvement reporting frameworks
- Checks and balances to audit the quality of data and the robustness of the system
Sedex holds self assessment information, 2nd and 3rd party audit findings and corrective action plans. This means that purchasers can all work together on the same action plan with each supplier - which should mean that suppliers are receiving more consistent messages on corrective actions from their customers.Over the next couple of years Impactt worked with founder members to design and build the database and to develop the governance structure for Sedex as an independent not-for-profit limited company, owned and managed by its members. By September 2007 16 retailers, 169 brands and importers and in excess of 15,000+ factories and farms in 132 countries are members of Sedex. Approximately 60% of sites on Sedex are from the non-food sector (clothing/home-wares/accessories) and 40% from the food sector. More about Impactt’s collaborative projects