As global supply chains become increasingly complex and the demand for ethical practices rises, SEDEX has introduced a new version of its SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) methodology.
The SMETA 7.0 update represents a significant evolution in ethical trade audits and introduces key enhancements designed to help businesses meet the ever-increasing demands for transparency, accountability, and sustainability.
Key Changes in SMETA 7.0 – what you need to know
- Introduction of the Management Systems Assessment (MSA): SMETA 7.0 includes a new Management Systems Assessment, offering a comprehensive review of a site’s policies, procedures, and practices to ensure alignment with SMETA standards. This enhancement is specifically designed to help businesses identify and mitigate potential risks more effectively by assessing the maturity and effectiveness of their management systems. The MSA replaces the previous “observations” category, providing a more structured approach to evaluating how well a site’s systems can prevent non-compliance
- Collaborative Action Required category: A new finding category, “Collaborative Action Required” (CAR), has been introduced to address complex issues that cannot be resolved by the audited party alone. This category encourages closer cooperation between buyers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to tackle challenges that may require long-term remediation efforts and involve multiple parties. Unlike traditional non-conformances, CAR findings do not have a fixed closure date, reflecting the complexity and need for sustained collaboration to resolve these issues.
- Enhanced environmental and business ethics assessments: The 4-pillar audit has been upgraded with more rigorous assessments of environmental practices and business ethics. These enhancements align with the growing global emphasis on sustainability and ethical business conduct, ensuring that businesses meet higher standards in responsible sourcing. This is crucial for companies aiming to stay ahead of regulatory demands and stakeholder expectations.
- Digital integration for real-time reporting: SMETA 7.0 leverages advanced digital tools to streamline data collection and enable real-time reporting. This integration enhances the efficiency of the audit process and ensures that businesses can quickly adapt to any changes in compliance requirements. The use of digital platforms is a key component of maintaining continuous assurance across complex supply chains.
- Comprehensive Auditor Training: To ensure the effective implementation of SMETA 7.0, Sedex has rolled out an extensive training programme for auditors, including 16 hours of live training and updated modules in the Sedex Auditor Academy. This training is mandatory for all auditors before they can conduct SMETA 7.0 audits, ensuring consistency and quality across all assessments.
“The launch of SMETA 7.0 contains a number of significant changes that have a far-reaching impact on the audit process and the measures based on it. These changes ensure that companies not only comply with legal and ethical requirements, but can also implement long-term improvements “Adino Morris
With the introduction of SMETA 7.0, Sedex provides a much deeper and more systematic methodology that enables companies and suppliers to improve their ethical standards in the long term. The new measures, in particular the management system-based approach and collaborative problem solving, provide a clear path to go beyond compliance with basic standards and achieve sustainable improvements in supply chains.
Companies that implement SMETA 7.0 not only benefit from better compliance, but also from an improved reputation and increased competitiveness. The new requirements help companies to identify weaknesses at an early stage and implement continuous improvements – an important step towards promoting sustainable and ethical supply chains.
