Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)

Focus of Scheme:

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a ground-breaking alliance of companies, trade unions and voluntary organisations. ETI work in partnership to improve the lives of workers across the globe who make or grow consumer goods - everything from tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs. Ethical trade means that retailers, brands and their suppliers take responsibility for improving the working conditions of the people who make the products they sell.

How to Partner:

As well as adopting the Base Code, corporate members must also sign up to ETI’s Principles of Implementation, which set out the approaches to ethical trade that member companies should follow. These require companies to:

• demonstrate a clear commitment to ethical trade;
• integrate ethical trade into their core business practices;
• drive year-on-year improvements to working conditions;
• support suppliers to improve working conditions, for example through advice and training; and
• report openly and accurately about their activities.
  

Member companies must also play an active part in ETI activities alongside their trade union and NGO colleagues, including in members' meetings, projects and working groups.

Companies pay an annual fee to join ETI, dependent on turnover of the company.

The Process:

Those companies interested in joining the ETI are advised to make contact with the ETI Secretariat to find out more about what membership involves, and so ETI can assess readiness to sign up to their membership commitments.

ETI welcome enquiries about membership from any company, whatever their size or type of business. 

DFID Contact: Lindsey Napier