IMPA – the International Marine Purchasing Association – has recently launched IMPA ACT – a complete responsible supply chain management system for the marine shipping sector, fully aligned to Ruggie.
Central to their program is the Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) which IMPA intends and hopes will become the marine industry standard and covers suppliers’ impacts on human rights, including core labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. It is intended to represent best practice and is the first of its kind to be fully aligned to the UN Guiding Principles launched in 2011 (Ruggie).
IMPA Act members are signing up to the code and will start a dialogue with their suppliers on how to implement the code. Ultimately, the system will be underpinned by a data base to share supplier CSR/audit data, similar to Sedex, Ecovadis, BSCI and other data sharing platforms.
The code is held fairly generic so it could be used by other sectors as a reference point. The UN Guiding Principles cannot simply be treated as an “add-on” to existing codes but may actually require companies to review and adapt their codes.
For more information you can navigate the IMPA-Act website
