One of AIM-PROGRESS’ main pillars of action is to facilitate mutual recognition of audits. We regularly update a shared list of suppliers audited by member companies to our common benchmark - the SMETA 4-pillar audit protocol or equivalent. The shared list has grown to 19,000 audited supplier records which are available to participating members. They can request the audited supplier to share with them a copy of the most recent audit in view of mutual recognition, rather than initiating a new audit. It remains the decision of the supplier to share an audit or not. The concept of mutual recognition is currently being tested for other tools which can at least be shared, if not mutually recognised, including a pilot with EcoVadis on supplier assessments.
