First Norwegian and Danish Affiliates Join Electronics Watch
The Municipalities of Copenhagen and Oslo have respectively become the first Danish and Norwegian affiliates of Electronics Watch. They join other Scandinavian affiliates Adda Central Purchasing Body and the Swedish Regions. "Copenhagen and Oslo are leaders in sustainable public procurement. We are thrilled to be joining forces to address core issues in electronics supply chains", said Björn Claeson, Director of Electronics Watch.
The leadership of the Municipality of Copenhagen and its sustainability team have played a key role in driving new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards in their procurement. Last week, the council approved a new CSR annex with stricter requirements for labour rights, human rights, climate and environment and anti-corruption. The new annex will be followed up by a risk-based control effort to ensure compliance with the requirements. Electronics Watch will be part of this new control effort. The revised CSR annex will be attached to all future contracts from the municipality's seven administrations with a value of DKK 1 million or more.
David Salomonsen, Head of CSR and law (tenders and contracts) in the Municipality of Copenhagen, said: "Our affiliation to Electronics Watch has been a long time under way and we are excited to get started. In Copenhagen we are committed to ensure human rights and working conditions for everyone who carries out work for the city – whether it is in construction, services or indeed in global supply chains of goods. We are a major public procurer and with this comes a major responsibility to strive to address human rights issues nationally and internationally."
The City of Oslo and its affiliated agencies come to Electronics Watch with considerable experience implementing social criteria and contract clauses in the procurement of high risk goods. Already in 2012, the promotion of human rights and ILO core conventions through procurement was adopted by the Vice Mayor for Finance. In the Oslo Model, they have further developed the requirements and revised the social criteria for the procurement of goods to the city. They also use social selection criteria to ensure that suppliers admitted to the competition are able to fulfil the social contract clauses. They are working towards specific criteria for human rights due diligence systems, and emphasising the need for follow-up based on in-house competence and collaboration.
Stine Foss, Sustainability Manager for Ethical Trade at City of Oslo, said: "Collaboration with suppliers, public buyers nationally and internationally, and other experts and stakeholders is key to creating lasting impact for workers worldwide. We are excited to join forces with Electronics watch to address human rights issues in the Electronics industry."