Goals and progress
Supply chain | Our program in action
Code of Vendor Conduct update
Location: Worldwide
Summary: Our Code of Vendor Conduct (COVC) documents the legal, social and environmental standards that we set for garment factories around the world. In 2008, we made substantive updates to reflect emerging needs and priorities.
Gap Inc.’s Code of Vendor Conduct (COVC) establishes the legal, social and environmental requirements that all garment factories must meet in order to do business with our company.
These requirements are designed to ensure that garment workers are paid fairly, work a reasonable number of hours, and do their work in a safe, healthy environment. We also believe that the code is an important foundation for the ongoing improvement of labor standards.
We continuously evaluate our factories’ compliance with our code, which is based on conventions established by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and aligned with the policies of Social Accountability International (SAI) and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). We measure compliance in conjunction with two additional sets of standards: local and country laws. Our code clearly states that factories must abide by all applicable labor laws and regulations.
Our 2008 update to the code reflects our commitment to support workers’ rights and align with other industry codes. We also took this opportunity to address changes in our industry and the global marketplace, and to incorporate new input from our stakeholders.
The 2008 COVC updates include:
An explicit reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO’s Core Conventions. Our COVC and programs have always been based on these international agreements. We believe that it’s important to promote them, and we’re encouraged to do so by the human rights and labor communities. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls on all “organs of society” to promote and protect human rights — a priority that we seek to bring to life through our work.
Structuring our code for greater clarity, detail and attention to key global issues related to freedom of association, working conditions, wages and hours. For example, standards for sexual harassment and physical punishment were previously listed under “Working Conditions.” In the updated code, they now fall under “Humane Treatment.” Likewise, the standards for “Wages & Hours” are now laid out separately as “Working Hours” and “Wages and Benefits.” This new category specifically addresses the common, and unacceptable, practice of terminating worker contracts to avoid providing benefits.
Expanding the discrimination standard to include areas such as indigenous status, social origin, disability, sexual orientation, union membership and political affiliation.
A reference to the “Right to Collective Bargaining” in addition to “Parallel Means” in the code’s Freedom of Association sub-principle. This establishes that factories cannot interfere with workers who want to lawfully and peacefully associate, organize or bargain collectively, and that, if those activities are restricted by law, workers can develop parallel means to do so.
An update on Temporary Contracts that explicitly forbids the use of such contracts for the purpose of avoiding the provision of benefits.
Other minor changes to the “Health and Safety” and “Environment” sections of the code.
