In the fall of 1998, members of the French Business and Sales Alliance proposed the “Social Terms Action (ICS)” based on the ILO Convention and inspired by the SA8000 standard. The proposal is aimed at direct suppliers of non-food consumer products in source countries. From the outset, the ICS program used a unified audit questionnaire with a hierarchical system and systematically utilized an external independent audit company. At the same time, ICS has been open to other French retailers, and has conducted many audits, which are constantly being improved by the attention of the world's largest social trading organizations.
ICS specifications and goals
As stated in the ICS specification, the goal of the ICS program is to promote and support all social, health/safety-related continuous improvements related to the full working conditions of the ICS member factories. The ICS specification explains the core requirements for ICS members, and the “industry conduct” that the members themselves are free to follow may stipulate additional or improved terms. The main conclusions of all audits initiated by ICS members will be registered in the ICS database and resource sharing will be done among ICS members to avoid unnecessary duplication of audits.
ICS structure
In principle, representatives of all ICS member companies meet once every two months to jointly follow up on the pace of implementation of the ICS proposal globally and to determine development initiatives. The ICS Permanent Secretariat is responsible for all organizational and coordination matters.
Member commitment
ICS members promote the implementation of ICS programs and comply with established rules, in accordance with the rules of authority and responsibility. In order to monitor the conclusions of the audit and to continually improve the working conditions of the country of origin, the basic information is shared.
Members of ICS:
·Carrefour
·PPR Group (Fnac, La redoute, Printemps, Conforama)
·Okaidi
·Monoprix
·Galeries Lafayette
·Casino
·Auchan
·Systeme U
·E. Leclerc
·Cora Provera
·CAMIF
·Jules