What is a social compliance audit?

What does social compliance audit mean?

A social compliance audit is an independent, evidence-based assessment of how a factory or subcontractor workshop treats its workers. The auditor examines working hours, wages, social security registration, occupational health and safety, the risk of child and forced labour, discrimination and business ethics.

The benchmark has three layers: local law (in Turkey, Labour Law No. 4857, Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 and Social Security Law No. 5510); the buyer’s code of conduct; and international criteria built on ILO conventions, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD guidelines. Where local law and the brand code differ, the provision that protects workers more is usually applied.

In textiles and apparel these audits take place both in main production factories and in subcontractor workshops doing sewing, ironing or packing, because a brand’s risk often sits in the tiers it cannot see.

Why do brands require social compliance audits from suppliers?

Brands audit suppliers to show that their products are made under conditions that respect human rights and to spot supply chain risks early. The audit report is hard data for sourcing decisions and supplier selection.

This expectation increasingly has a legal basis. The EU Forced Labour Regulation (EU 2024/3015) bans products made with forced labour from the EU market from 14 December 2027, while the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Germany’s Supply Chain Act (LkSG) expect large companies to identify risks in their supply chains. Turkish suppliers exporting to Europe feel these obligations directly through their customers’ requirements.

Large retailers selling in the Turkish domestic market also apply their own codes of conduct to suppliers and their subcontractors. The audit is how they show those codes are not just paper.

Who carries out social compliance audits?

Audits are carried out by the brand’s own compliance team, by an independent audit firm acting for the brand, or by an audit company working under a specific scheme. The ordering brand decides which.

In scheme audits the scheme owner sets the rules: amfori BSCI reports are uploaded to the amfori Sustainability Platform; SMETA audits are performed by Sedex-approved Affiliate Audit Companies; WRAP audits are done by WRAP-accredited monitoring firms; and SA8000 certificates are issued by certification bodies accredited by SAAS.

OBCO Audit is an independent firm that audits against brand codes of conduct and internationally recognised social compliance criteria, and helps suppliers prepare for these audits.

What is the outcome of an audit?

Most social compliance audits do not end in a pass/fail certificate but in a report with findings and an improvement plan. An amfori BSCI report carries a grade from A to E; SMETA results in a corrective action plan.

Certification schemes are different: WRAP certifies the facility and SA8000 certifies a management system. When a brand audits against its own code of conduct, the brand sets the outcome and acceptance criteria.

Serious findings such as child labour, forced labour, falsified records or life-threatening safety gaps can trigger immediate consequences at many brands, such as suspended orders. The real value of an audit is making a problem visible before it becomes a crisis.

How do brand codes of conduct relate to these standards?

Brand codes of conduct usually rest on the same international foundations: the ILO core conventions, the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD guidelines. A workshop well prepared for a BSCI, SMETA or brand audit is therefore largely prepared for the others.

The differences are in the detail: some brands set stricter limits than the law on overtime, wages or subcontractor approval; some accept a particular scheme’s report while others recognise only their own audit. The best starting point is to obtain the brand’s current code of conduct and ask which reports it accepts.