Supply Chain Standards
In our standard production procurement process, we issue purchase orders that incorporate our Global Terms and Conditions (GT&Cs). The GT&Cs are further supplemented by our web-guides, which expand on our expectations and suppliers’ obligations on specific topics. For example, our Social Responsibility and Anti-Corruption Web-Guide outlines our prohibition of child labor, forced labor (including human trafficking), physical disciplinary abuse and any infraction of the law. Our Environmental Web-Guide sets out environmental requirements, including the elimination of materials of concern and increasing the use of sustainable materials whenever technically and economically feasible.
Internally, we have adopted Policy Letter 24, our Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibility, to address workplace issues such as working hours, child labor, forced labor, nondiscrimination, freedom of association, health and safety and the environment. This policy applies to our own operations, and we encourage businesses throughout our supply chain to adopt and enforce similar policies in their own operations. Furthermore, we seek to identify and do business with companies that have aligned standards consistent with Policy Letter 24, including working to cascade these expectations throughout their own supply chain.
Slavery and Human Trafficking
Slavery and forced labor can take many forms, including human trafficking or child labor. Ford’s Policy Letter 24: Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibility, clearly states that we will not tolerate forced labor (including human trafficking) or child labor in our operations and we conduct internal audits of our manufacturing locations to ensure compliance. Our processes include actions to safeguard against human rights abuses (including forced labor and human trafficking) in our supply chain, including:
- Our Global Terms and Conditions forbid the use of forced labor, child labor and physically abusive disciplinary practices. Our definition of forced labor is inclusive of human trafficking as outlined in our Policy Letter 24: Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibility. Ford’s purchase orders require suppliers to certify compliance with our prohibition of forced labor, child labor and physical disciplinary abuse as part of our Global Terms and Conditions that govern the purchase by Ford of goods and services from suppliers. We reserve the right to terminate our relationship with a supplier if issues of noncompliance with our policies are discovered and/or noncompliance is not addressed in a timely manner.
- We regularly assess risk related to human trafficking and forced labor associated with our supply base. Our preliminary assessment is based upon geography, the commodity purchased, supplier quality performance and the nature of the business transaction. Ford performs this risk assessment with input from external stakeholders. In 2014, as a result of this analysis, we added Indonesia to our list of high-priority countries, increasing the total to 22 countries. The high-priority country list, combined with our training and assessment history in a given country and engagement with our regional buying community, is used to prioritize our training and assessment efforts.