Knowledge centre
Guides, standards and regulation for suppliers preparing for an audit and brands managing their supply chains.
- 01
What is a social compliance audit?
A social compliance audit is an independent assessment that checks, through document review, a site tour and worker interviews, whether working conditions, occupational health and safety and business ethics at a production site meet local law, the buyer’s code of conduct and internationally recognised social compliance criteria.
- 02
Social audit preparation checklist
To be ready for a social compliance audit, a workshop needs complete and mutually consistent personnel and social security records, payroll and time records, overtime consents, OHS documents, safe site conditions and informed workers before the auditor arrives.
- 03
Most common findings in subcontractor workshops
The most common findings in subcontractor workshops are excessive overtime, unregistered workers, missing age documents, blocked exits, missing machine guards, inadequate first aid, wage and overtime calculation errors, unauthorised subcontracting and a missing risk assessment.
- 04
How does the EU Forced Labour Regulation (EU 2024/3015) affect Turkish suppliers?
The EU Forced Labour Regulation (EU 2024/3015) bans, from 14 December 2027, any economic operator regardless of size from placing on the EU market, making available or exporting products made wholly or partly with forced labour, so Turkish suppliers whose goods reach the EU must be able to show they manage forced labour risk in their own sites and subcontracting chains.
- 05
CSDDD and LkSG: where do things stand in 2026?
As of 8 October 2026, the EU CSDDD has been narrowed by Omnibus I (2026/470) to companies with more than 5,000 employees and over EUR 1.5 billion turnover, applying from 26 July 2029, while Germany’s LkSG remains in force with its 1,000-employee threshold because the amending bill has not yet been passed.