Accolite’s Supplier Code of Conduct sets for key supplier (“Supplier”) standards (“Supplier Standards”), which align with our Code of Conduct & Ethics, apply to all of our third-party representatives, suppliers, vendors, subcontractors and business development agents and their parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, or collectively, Suppliers, including Suppliers engaged by Accolite Digital Group Inc. and/or its affiliates (individually and collectively, “Accolite”, the “Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”).
All Suppliers are responsible to ensure that their employees, including temporary, migrant, student, contract, and direct employees, performing services in relation to Accolite business are familiar, and comply, with these Supplier Standards. Accolite expects its Suppliers to adopt similar standards within their own businesses and apply those standards to their next-tier suppliers (e.g., subcontractors).
The Supplier Standards are not intended to conflict with or modify any existing contractual terms between Accolite and its Suppliers. The Standards are intended to offer guidance for Accolite’s suppliers and, should a conflict arise, any existing contractual terms and conditions will take precedence.
The relationship between Accolite and its direct and indirect affiliates and its Suppliers is an integral part of achieving and maintaining high performance in Accolite’s business. Accolite is committed to working with reputable business partners who share our dedication to ethical business conduct and policies.
Suppliers are required to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and rules in the countries in which the Supplier is located or does business, including relevant international laws and regulations such as those related to business integrity, human rights, health and safety, trade, and the environment.
Suppliers must conduct business interactions and activities with integrity and must, without limitation:
Conduct business in compliance with antitrust and fair competition laws that govern the jurisdiction(s) in which they conduct business. Suppliers must avoid agreements and practices that have a restrictive effect on competition such as price fixing, market allocation, or abuse of a dominant position.
Accolite respects, considers, integrates and promotes internationally recognized human rights in accordance with principles outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Accolite expects its Suppliers to commit to these same principles concerning fundamental rights at work in the eight core conventions of the ILO’s Declaration and conventions on working hours. In addition, we expect our Suppliers to respect, in particular, the rights of women, children, migrants and other vulnerable groups and individuals, in accordance with the ILO conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Accolite’s standards on labor and human rights specifically include the following requirements:
Suppliers must provide a workplace free from discrimination, harassment, or any type of abuse. Suppliers must not discriminate against a person’s Legally Protected Characteristics, such as race, color, religion, gender identity, pregnancy, age, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, disability status, veteran status, or freedom of association, including political affiliations and union memberships, when making employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, termination, or providing other terms and conditions of employment. Suppliers should also promote diverse and inclusive workplace environments where everyone is treated with respect and where people are encouraged to embrace diverse backgrounds, cultures and thought. In addition, Suppliers should make reasonable efforts to engage under-represented diverse businesses such as minority-owned, women-owned, disabled-owned, LGBTQ-owned and veteran-owned companies (where it is legal to classify suppliers in these groups) when making their own sourcing decisions.
Accolite strictly prohibits the use of child labor in any of the Supplier’s operations. Suppliers must not employ workers younger than the greater of (a) 15 years of age, or 14 where the local law allows such exception consistent with International Labor Organization guidelines, or (b) the age for completing compulsory education, or (c) the minimum age established by law n the country of operations. In addition, Suppliers must comply with all legal requirements for authorized young workers (including students and interns), particularly those pertaining to hours of work, wages and working conditions.
All forms of forced or compulsory labor, such as prison labor, bonded labor, or indentured labor, are forbidden in any operations. Forced overtime and human trafficking are also strictly prohibited. Additionally, Accolite expects Suppliers to follow responsible recruitment practices to prevent forced labor and other forms of modern slavery. Suppliers and their abor agents and subagents shall not hold, destroy, conceal, confiscate, or deny workers access to their identity or immigration documents.
Suppliers should not charge any recruitment or other related fees to workers for employment. If any such fees are found to have been charged by the Suppliers to workers, such fees shall be repaid to the workers immediately.
Suppliers must provide clean, safe and healthy working conditions for all employees. Suppliers must comply with all applicable, legally mandated standards for workplace health and safety in the countries in which they operate, and Accolite encourages Suppliers to implement industry best practices.
Suppliers must pay workers according to any applicable minimum wage, as well as any legally mandated overtime premium for all hours worked. Suppliers also must ensure that any legally mandated benefits are being provided to their employees and that there are no illegal deductions for employee benefits. Workers must be provided with a timely and understandable wage statement that includes sufficient information to verify accurate compensation for work performed. Suppliers shall also take steps to ensure equal pay for equal work and that remuneration for work of equal value is established without discrimination.
Working hours are not to exceed the maximum set by local law. Furthermore, a standard workweek should not exceed 48 hours or 60 hours, including overtime, except in emergency or unusual situations. All overtime must be voluntary and workers must be allowed at least one day off every seven days.
Suppliers must respect the right of all workers to form and join, or not join, a trade union of their choice (or equivalent worker bodies where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law) and to bargain collectively. Suppliers will prohibit any form of intimidation, harassment, retaliation and violence against workers exercising these rights.
Suppliers will be committed to sourcing goods and services for Accolite in alignment with all the principles and standards laid out in Accolite’s Supplier Code of Conduct. Suppliers should give exceptional emphasis to sourcing with the same fundamental support of human rights, labor, health and safety, environment and ethics as set forth in these Supplier Standards. This commitment also applies to the responsible sourcing of minerals, including conflict minerals. Suppliers must take steps to determine if their products contain conflict minerals (including tin, tantalum, gold and tungsten) and, if so, implement supply chain processes to identify the sources of these minerals and support efforts to eradicate the use of conflict minerals, which directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries.
Accolite encourages its Suppliers to draw upon internationally recognized principles to advance social and environmental responsibility.
Suppliers must comply with all local environmental laws applicable to their operations in the countries in which they operate.
Accolite encourages Suppliers to focus on continuous improvement of environmental performance, including in the areas of water, waste, chemicals and energy and emissions management. In particular, we encourage Suppliers to begin their transition away from fossil fuel-based energy sources and toward net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goals. Accolite aims to reduce the Scope 3 emissions associated with our supply chain. We are encouraging our Suppliers to set their own net zero emissions reduction targets and in some cases supporting them to do so.
At a minimum, Accolite requests Suppliers to have policies and procedures in place to measure and reduce GHG emissions and be able to identify potential improvements to the goods and services being provided that will in turn contribute to reducing Accolite’s emissions. Accolite may request information on Supplier’s GHG emissions and reduction planning.
Suppliers will respect intellectual property rights, protect confidential information and comply with privacy rules and regulations. All Accolite Suppliers must, without limitation:
We expect our Suppliers and their third-party suppliers or subcontractors to comply with contractually agreed Information Security & Privacy requirements throughout the contracted period. Suppliers must:
Accolite strives to align, centralize and integrate disciplines and capabilities to deliver timely and effective incident identification, impact assessments, escalation, communication, and resolution. The resiliency efforts extend beyond the assets of Accolite to the third-party service providers that support our business processes.
Accolite expects its suppliers to manage business continuity risk to ensure availability of critical services to Accolite during a disaster event. It is a requirement that each supplier maintain a comprehensive business continuity program that addresses the loss of facilities, technology, human capital, or suppliers necessary to support Accolite. We routinely request collaborative disaster recovery testing with our Suppliers to appraise their resiliency and identify potential issues that would impact continuous service delivery to our customers. Suppliers are expected to share these plans as requested.
These Supplier Standards are incorporated into the Agreement between Suppliers and Accolite by reference. Compliance with these Supplier Standards is mandatory. At the same time, should these Standards conflict with the terms of any Agreement, any existing contractual terms and conditions will take precedence.
Accolite reserves the right to monitor and audit each supplier’s compliance with the Supplier Standards including, but not limited to, conducting on-site audits of our Suppliers’ premises, IT systems and infrastructure. Suppliers should maintain all documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the Supplier Standards and cooperate with Accolite associates or third-party monitoring firms in connection with such inspections, or other Accolite-initiated fact-finding inquiries related to Supplier’s work for Accolite.
Failure to comply with these Supplier Standards may lead to consequences, including termination as a Supplier to Accolite.
Suppliers, and their employees and supply chains, are obliged to inform Accolite immediately if they suspect or become aware of any unethical conduct, actual or potential violation of the Supplier Standards or of any applicable law, regulation or rule. Reports can be made to your business sponsor and/or the Accolite Compliance team (Compliance@Accolitedigital.com), anonymously where legally permissible. Accolite does not retaliate against anyone for submitting in good faith a report of suspected or known misconduct, nor does Accolite tolerate others retaliating.
If any part of the Supplier Standards is unclear, please reach out to your business sponsor or contact the Accolite Compliance team (Compliance@Accolitedigital.com).