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Call for interest round 2

Register of Experts

The GSCP is calling for expressions of interest from professionals to work on a contractual basis as independent experts to perform Equivalence Assessments in the framework of the GSCP Equivalence Process.

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In their words

Walmart_1

Rajan Kamalanathan, Vice-President Ethical Standards - Walmart

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HP

Karl Daulmueller, Program Manager & SER Lead Auditor - Hewlett Packard

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Woolworths_1

Armineh Mardirossian, Group Manager CR, Community and Sustainability - Woolworths

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Ahold_1

Karin Bogaers, Advisor Product Integrity - Royal Ahold

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Chiquita_1

George Jaksch, Senior Director Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs - Chiquita

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Migros_1

Johann Züblin, Deputy Head of Issue Management and Sustainability - Migros

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Tesco_1

Paul Dearman, International Ethical Trading Manager - Tesco

 


The GSCP Equivalence Process PDF E-mail

Variations in social compliance and environmental compliance standards, audit process and methodology as well as requirements for auditing competence make it difficult for buying companies to recognise and accept audit reports coming from other social / environmental compliance schemes. The GSCP Equivalence Process will help companies and initiatives overcome this by allowing them to benchmark their systems, tools and processes against agreed best existing practice as described in the GSCP reference tools.

Users (e.g. buying companies, initiatives, auditing bodies etc.) can - according to their scope - benchmark their systems against any or all of the GSCP reference tools:

social compliance Reference Code Audit Process & Methodology Management Systems
site-specific environmental compliance Reference Requirements Audit Process & Methodology
combined social & environment Auditing Competence

Any reference tools published by the GSCP in the future will be integrated into the Equivalence Process as appropriate.

Uses, users and purpose

Buying companies would use the Equivalence Process - for example - to:

  • assess internal tools & processes against best existing practice and requirements as defined by consensus in the GSCP reference tools
  • drive internal alignment: ensure internal processes are up to standard and that each business unit follows a global approach
  • compare internal tools with business partners’ and peers' codes, processes & tools in view of future collaboration (e.g. sharing of audit results on common suppliers)
  • assess service providers (e.g. auditing bodies) and initiatives

Other organisations can make use of the Equivalence Process, including:

  • business initiatives
  • auditing bodies and certification bodies
  • NGOs that have their own standards & can perform audits
  • public authorities

The overall purpose of the Equivalence Process is:

  • to contribute to the definition and delivery of a clear and consistent message towards global suppliers based on best existing practice
  • to build comparability and transparency between existing schemes while allowing them to maintain their specificities
  • to allow interested parties to trust each other’s audit reports with a view to drive out duplication in auditing
  • to support continuous improvement of existing practices towards best practice.

Structure

The Equivalence Process comprises 2 tools:
1 Self-Assessment 2 Equivalence Assessment
The companies / schemes assess their internal tools, systems and methodology though a point by point check against each GSCP reference tool (as relevant to the scope of the organisation)
 An independent Panel of Experts validates the Self-Assessment (see below for details on the Register of Experts)
objective : to understand where their systems stand vis-à-vis requirements and practices as defined in the GSCP Reference Tools, and what needs to be reviewed to reach such requirements and practices. objective : to objectively assess whether a User’s Self-Assessment against one or more GSCP reference tools is complete, accurate and can be trusted. The companies / initiatives can share their Equivalence Assessments. It allows transparency, comparability and trust, and facilitates further collaboration.

An organisation can apply for the Self-Assessment as a first step (for internal assessment purposes), and then or later elect to go through the Equivalence Assessment (for sharing and collaboration with other Users). The GSCP Equivalence Process is hosted on a dedicated IT platform - follow this link to access.

Key steps, Agreement for the EP & fees

See this page to view the key procedural steps Users undertake while undergoing an Equivalence Process and access a sample of the Agreement for the Equivalence Process which Users need to acknowledge before using the Platform. Also find out more here about the different fees applied.

Learn more: introductory webinars and audio training

The GSCP will be holding in June and July 2011 a series of webinars to introduce you in more details to the GSCP Equivalence Process and the IT platform hosting it. See this page for details and registration.

Start the Process

Access the EP platform to register to use the Equivalence Process - any questions please contact us through the platform!

Register of Experts

The GSCP keeps a permanent Register of Experts, which gathers the experts who may be invited to serve as members of a GSCP Equivalence Assessment Panel. The role of the Panel of Experts is to review the Self-Assessments carried out by Users (at their request), and validate them if accurate for public use by the Users (communication / sharing of results as relevant with other organisations).

An Equivalence Assessment Panel consists of one Panel Coordinator and two Panel Members. One such Panel will be set up for each Equivalence Assessment. Go to the Register of Experts page for more information, to apply to join the Register and for detail of qualifications required.

Development

An Expert Working Group was launched in April 2009 to develop this voluntary equivalence process and is composed of ten experts drawn from the GSCP Task Force:

  • Karin Bogaers, Coordinator Social Compliance, ROYAL AHOLD
  • Karl Daumueller , Lead Auditor & Program Manager, HEWLETT-PACKARD
  • Paul Dearman, International Ethical Trading Manager, TESCO
  • George Jaksch, Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs, CHIQUITA EUROPE
  • Armineh Mardirossian, Group Sustainability Manager, WOOLWORTHS
  • Chris McCann, ES Country Manager, Wal-Mart Global Procurement, ASDA STORES
  • Lena Pripp-Kovac, IT Sustainability Manager, IKEA
  • Virginie Saudrais, Chargée de Mission Environnement et Social, CARREFOUR
  • Johann Züblin, Deputy Head of Issue Management and Sustainability, MIGROS

The work of the group is coordinated by a Project Manager: Marjan Smit
 
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