AIM-PROGRESS supports the principle of mutual recognition of 4-pillar supplier audits between brand manufacturers. It creates awareness of suppliers having undergone an audit by an AIM-PROGRESS member through a shared list of supplier records, which is updated at regular intervals. The number of supplier records contained in the list has climbed steadily over the last years and has now reached 16,200. Members can check the list for suppliers they may wish to audit and, if listed as already having been audited by another company, contact them directly to request insight into the audit results. If these results are satisfactory they can accept another company's audit. The decision whether to share the audit is left to the supplier. Members are finding this joint list very useful, especially if they are not part of a data sharing platform such as Sedex. Through mutual recognition of audits, members also converge their audit requirements. The current minimum benchmarki for AIM-PROGRESS is SMETA 4 Pillar, but with some companies extending their audit requirements to comprise land rights, human rights, women empowerment, more on business integrity, etc. AIM-PROGRESS will be raising the bar for responsible sourcing audits. The intention is to provide input to the next SMETA update.
