Policies for Responsible Sourcing
To realize our ambitions for safe and responsibly sourced products at good quality, we developed different policies. These policies include a sustainable approach towards people, environment and communities. You can view our policies below.
Action Ethical Sourcing Policy
All suppliers are required to comply with our Ethical Sourcing Policy. The key elements of our Ethical Sourcing Policy relate to the International Labour Organisation conventions, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Business Social Compliance Initiative Code of Conduct.
Click here for our Ethical Sourcing Policy
Responsible Cotton Sourcing Policy
Action wants to sell more textiles and clothes in its stores with sustainably sourced cotton. That is why we developed a responsible cotton policy. This policy addresses direct suppliers and importers and includes commitments to critical topics, such as human rights, transparency, water management, pesticides and herbicides, just to mention a few. Action is also working on partnerships with strategic expert partners and relevant institutions. By the end of 2020, 40% of the cotton we source shall come from more sustainable sources following standards like BCI, Recycled, Organic and Fairtrade.
Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)
To strengthen our ambitions and development of purchasing increasingly more cotton from sustainable sources, Action proudly became a member of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) in 2018. BCI is the largest cotton sustainability program in the world, providing training and support for farmers worldwide to develop environmentally friendlier and socially and economically more sustainable farming methods. Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products. However, BCI Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source’. Please find more information about BCI here.
Responsible Timber Products Sourcing Policy
Timber is a sensitive resource that affects the environment and communities. Action developed a timber policy that aims to achieve a higher level of transparency, sets goals and defines procedures to ensure that products imported directly or via importers fulfill or exceed the requirements of the EU timber regulations. With this policy, Action focuses on non-commercial goods, permanently available products in the categories household, stationery & hobby, and decoration, as well as cardboard transit packaging materials. Part of this policy is the agreement with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) we signed in 2017. In the long-term, Action envisions that all timber products procured by Action are self-evidently certified by a sustainable source such as FSC. By the end of 2020, 50% of all timber products sold at Action shall come from a third party certified origin.
Click here for our Responsible Timber Products Sourcing Policy
Responsible Chemicals Policy
Chemicals may be one of the most critical product components. They pose a risk to workers in the production process, to the product safety for our customers and to the environment. At Action, we aim for responsibly produced products that are safe and fulfill all legal obligations. But we want even more: We want to go beyond legal compliance and support new technological, chemical and manufacturing processes when these are available. With its chemicals policy, Action provides an action plan for a safe and responsible approach with chemicals. Amongst those are for example measures that increase transparency in the production process. Furthermore, testing programs, partnerships with respective industry partners and plans to list and define restricted substances, are part of this policy. The policy explains Action's expectations towards suppliers and puts suppliers clearly under responsibility.