SMETA, amfori BSCI and capability audits in India: which one you need

Four audits compared

Buyers often say "factory audit" for all of these. They are run under different rules, by different firms, and give different results.

SMETA: the Sedex Members' Ethical Trade Audit

Sedex was founded in 2001 by a group of retailers, and SMETA was launched in 2004. The current version is SMETA 7.0. Sedex describes SMETA as a social audit methodology, not a certification: it records findings and expects the site to improve, rather than giving a pass or fail.

• Standard. Each requirement is assessed against local law and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code, and whichever gives workers more protection applies.
• Scope. A 2-pillar audit covers labour standards and health and safety, with a basic environment check. A 4-pillar audit adds a full environment assessment and business ethics. Sedex gives an illustrative audit time of 2 days for a 2-pillar audit and 3 days for a 4-pillar audit.
• Labour standards include freely chosen employment, responsible recruitment, freedom of association, child labour, wages, working hours, discrimination, regular employment, and the responsible use of subcontractors and homeworkers.
• Scheduling. Announced, semi-announced (a window of at least three weeks) or unannounced.
• Auditors. Only Sedex Affiliate Audit Companies, which Sedex says are APSCA approved, may carry out SMETA audits.

How a SMETA audit is booked. According to Sedex, the supplier site must be a Sedex member. The supplier books the audit directly with an Affiliate Audit Company of its choice. The audit company uploads the report to the Sedex platform, and the supplier shares it with its customers there. As a buyer, your part is to ask the supplier to join Sedex, agree the scope (2 or 4 pillars) and timing, and link to the site on the platform to see the result.

amfori BSCI: the Business Social Compliance Initiative

amfori BSCI was launched in 2003 by amfori, a business association with headquarters in Brussels and an office in Mumbai. Suppliers commit to the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, and audits assess 13 performance areas, grouped as:

• Social management and workplace relations, including freedom of association and no discrimination, violence or harassment.
• Employee well-being: fair remuneration, decent working hours, and occupational health and safety.
• Protection of vulnerable workers: no child labour, protection of young workers, no precarious employment, no bonded or forced labour.
• Ethical practices: protection of the environment and ethical business behaviour.

An audit is answered from observation, interviews and documents, and ends with a grade from A to E. amfori states that BSCI is not a certification. The cycle is two years: a site graded A or B has its next full audit within two years, while a site graded C, D or E needs a follow-up audit between two and twelve months after the full audit. Since 1 September 2024, amfori accepts only semi-announced and fully unannounced BSCI audits.

How an amfori BSCI audit is arranged. Audits are requested on the amfori Sustainability Platform and carried out by an auditing company amfori works with. Full reports are visible only to the audited supplier and linked amfori members. If your customer is an amfori member and asks for BSCI, ask them how they want the audit requested for your supplier. If you are not a member yourself, contact amfori before you promise a BSCI report to anyone.

SA8000: a social certification

SA8000 is run by Social Accountability International (SAI), which created it in 1997. Unlike SMETA and BSCI, it is a certification standard. Certification audits are done by certification bodies, and SAI says only certificates from bodies validated by Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS) are recognised. SAI has published SA8000:2026 and is running a transition from the earlier edition. A buyer cannot commission SA8000 for a supplier the way it books an inspection. The supplier decides to seek certification and contracts a certification body.

What a capability audit covers, and where it fits

A capability audit looks at the factory as a supplier: whether it is a real, registered business, whether it has the machines, people and space for your order, how it makes and checks the product, and what it sends out to other units. It is the audit to book when you are choosing a supplier, adding a new product, or after repeated quality failures.

Clear To Load's factory audit in India is this kind. It is scored in 8 sections, including process, capacity, quality control and subcontracting, with photographs. It adds basic social-compliance observations: working hours as shown in attendance registers, how age is checked at hiring, wage records, and health and safety on the floor, such as machine guards, exits and fire extinguishers. It costs US$449 per audit day plus travel by band (none in Jodhpur); see pricing.

To be clear about what it is not: Clear To Load is not a Sedex Affiliate Audit Company or an amfori auditing company, and does not issue SA8000 certificates. Our audit does not follow those schemes' protocols, does not produce a SMETA report or a BSCI grade, and cannot be uploaded to their platforms. Its social observations can show obvious gaps early, for example missing registers or blocked exits, but they are not a pre-audit to any scheme. The full checklist is in the factory audit checklist for India.

Which audit do you need?

Two things none of these audits do. A social audit does not check product quality; amfori says BSCI audits are not related to quality or product safety audits. And no audit shows how a particular lot will turn out. For that, book inspections on the goods: see pre-shipment inspection in India.

Notes for Indian factories

• Subcontracting and homeworkers. In Indian craft clusters, carving, inlay, embroidery and finishing are often done in smaller units or at home. SMETA assesses the responsible use of subcontractors and homeworkers. Map these steps in any audit; a main factory that looks good can hide them.
• Ask for existing reports first. Sedex advises buyers to request access to existing SMETA results before commissioning new audits. A supplier may already hold a recent SMETA report or BSCI grade for another customer.
• An audit is one day's picture. Semi-announced and unannounced audits give a truer view than fully announced ones, which is why amfori stopped accepting fully announced BSCI audits.
• Timing. Around Diwali many workshops close or run with fewer workers, so neither capacity nor working patterns are typical. Agree audit dates outside the festival weeks.

Before any audit, it is worth checking the supplier's registrations yourself. See how to verify an Indian supplier.

Sources

1. Sedex: SMETA audit
2. Sedex: The Complete SMETA Audit Guide (PDF)
3. Sedex: SMETA 7.0 product one-pager (PDF, Aug 2024)
4. amfori: amfori BSCI (Code of Conduct, 13 performance areas, audit rating and cycle)
5. amfori: amfori steps away from fully announced social audits (from 1 September 2024)
6. Social Accountability International: SA8000 Standard and certification