New Guideline: Responsible Exit
New Guideline: Responsible Exit
Equal partnerships between purchasing companies and suppliers are based on the principle of mutual respect, striving for win-win situations with shared responsibility for improving working conditions. If suppliers in the supply chain violate human and environmental rights and negative impacts cannot be jointly addressed, the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Sector Guidance indicate that companies should terminate the business relationship as a last resort. In practice, economic rea-sons or deficiencies in product and service quality can also lead companies to stop working with a supplier. If disengagement is inevitable, purchasing companies should follow a responsible process, the so-called "re-sponsible exit". Responsible in this case means, above all, taking measures at an early stage to minimise or mitigate negative impacts on employees at suppliers.
Representatives of 12 PST companies and civil society worked together in the Peer Learning Group on Pur-chasing Practices to develop a guideline for responsible exits. It provides companies with detailed guidance and support on the requirements they should follow during the responsible exit process. So far, only PST members could use the guide, but now it will be made available to the general public. This guide sets out step by step how companies can develop a process that ensures that they exercise respon-sible exits and which guidelines and requirements have to be taken in consideration.