An update to AHFA’s 2012 Responsible Sourcing Manual has been completed and is now available exclusively to AHFA members.
The new manual is available at no charge to member companies. It can be downloaded HERE.
AHFA’s original Responsible Sourcing Manual was designed to provide basic information that would help member companies set and pursue social compliance goals. It outlined strategies for risk assessment, monitoring and remediation when problem spots were identified in the supply chain. It also included “risk profiles” for five of the top source countries for residential furnishings in 2012.
The newly released 2022 edition provides updated definitions for sustainability and responsible sourcing. A new section details the process of supply chain mapping down to the raw material level.
“Supply chain mapping is essential for risk identification,” explains Sheer Garcia, the North America training supervisor for UL Responsible Sourcing, which developed the updated manual for AHFA. Garcia attended AHFA’s 2022 Summit to introduce members to the fully updated document.
“Your first attempt at supply chain mapping will not be perfect,” she conceded. But beginning the process allows for proactive risk identification and quicker responses when supply chain disruptions occur, she said.
The new manual includes a section on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The measure was passed in December 2021 and prohibits the importation of goods wholly or in part mined, produced or manufactured in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. The act is likely to have an impact on the textiles industry, because cotton is a major export of the targeted region. Xinjiang cotton is reported to account for 84 percent of China’s total cotton exports. Vietnam, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the top recipients of the region’s unprocessed cotton. Vietnam’s textile industry, in particular, is said to be heavily dependent on raw materials from China.
AHFA’s new Responsible Sourcing Manual has five updated or new country risk profiles, including China, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
UL’s Responsible Sourcing division also recently completed an updated Lacey Act Compliance Manual. It, too, is available for download exclusively to AHFA members.