In order to have scored 100% in this analysis, i.e. to meet what we define as emerging best practice, companies would have to have been able to demonstrate all of the following commitments and activities in their published material. The model defined here seeks to reflect the views of leading companies, labour groups and NGOs at present; clearly, it is always evolving. Many more criteria could have been included that try to assess how well ethical trading commitments and buying practices are integrated; however, very few companies report on these aspects of supply chain management, and it would therefore have been very difficult to capture sufficient information to assess this aspect of performance.

• Company has a formal executive board sub-committee with explicit responsibility for labour standards in the supply chain and/or an executive board member with explicit responsibility for labour standards in the supply chain.
• Company provides discussion in the annual report and accounts of a systematic analysis of social, environmental and ethical issues as risk factors.
• Company provides a description of its approach to analysing risk with respect to labour standards in the supply chain.

• Company has a code for labour standards in the supply chain that covers all the issues of, and explicitly references, the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy or the ILO core conventions, including the living wage.
• Company fully discloses its code in its reports or on its website.
• Company applies the code to the entire breadth of, or to almost the entire breadth of, its supply chain, including its own procurement.

• Company has appointed a senior manager whose primary responsibility includes labour standards in the supply chain and who is no more than two reporting levels from the board.
• Company provides ongoing, scheduled training to buyers on labour standards in the supply chain.
• Company provides ongoing, scheduled training to personnel at the site of production, such as factory managers and suppliers, on labour standards in the supply chain.
• Company offers incentives to senior management and/or procurement staff that are explicitly linked to their performance on labour standards in the supply chain.

• Company is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) or a comparable initiative that includes input from both NGOs and unions.
• Company actively engages with stakeholders, specifically NGOs and/or trade unions (beyond membership of the above groups) at site level.

• Company makes a clear commitment to auditing labour standards across the entire breadth of its supply chain.
• Company has a scheduled auditing plan that is currently being implemented.
• Company's audits involve third parties, with systematic input from NGOs and/or labour in the country of supply into the verification of labour standard audits.
• Company publishes its auditing methodology, which follows generally accepted practices and/or an explicit external standard(s).
• Audits of company's supply chain are carried out by auditors or assessors with specialist qualifications in all or some cases.

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