The City of Barcelona has affiliated to Electronics Watch, making a social and environmental commitment to the workers of the electronics industry. The City made its announcement during the the Mobile World Congress, an annual gathering for the mobile industry and related industries, held in Barcelona, the Mobile World Capital.

Transport for London (TfL) has become the first public transport organisation to affiliate to Electronics Watch, providing €60,000 a year to fund long-term monitoring and improvement of factories, and gain access to intelligence from Electronics Watch partnerships with monitoring organisations based in the areas of electronics production used by the public sector. TfL already has a strict ethical procurement process in place to encourage and support its suppliers to provide good and fair working conditions.

The University of Barcelona will become the first public institution of Spain to join Electronics Watch. The ​public higher education institution invests substantially in electronic equipment such as desktops, laptops and other electronic devices. Now, in this collaboration with Electronics Watch and the rest of the European affiliates, the University of Barcelona will use its purchasing power to have a real impact on working conditions in the global electronics sector.

Autumn has been a very busy time for Electronics Watch. We have participated in conferences across Europe, including...

The University of Leicester has affiliated to Electronics Watch, joining a growing number of public bodies who share concerns over poor labour standards in the ICT supply chain. By joining Electronics Watch, The University of Leicester are pushing for better conditions for workers in the supply chains of the brands it has contracts with, and support monitoring of the factories they use.

Good Electronics in collaboration with a group of European NGOs released an investigation today showing that forced labour is used in the production of servers bought by European Universities.

The new video is part of a campaign by several organisations to encourage public procurers to use their power and come together to demand better conditions for workers in the global electronics industry.

European public buyers had the opportunity to delve deeper into Electronics Watch this week by participating in the European-wide webinar, 'Electronics Watch for Public Buyers', an online introduction to Electronics Watch addressing the monitoring methodology, the contract clauses that affiliates append to ICT contracts, as well as member benefits and requirements.

Following an initiative by the Green Party ('GroenLinks'), Utrecht's municipal council has decided to affiliate to Electronics Watch. The municipality is walking in the footsteps of other European public purchasers who have rallied forces to stimulate structural improvements among their suppliers of electronics. Utrecht is the first municipality to affiliate to Electronics Watch. The city's university hospital UMC Utrecht has already affiliated.

The University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) becomes the first public body from the Netherlands, and the first hospital, to affiliate to Electronics Watch. By doing so, they join forces with other public European purchasing organisations who want to promote structural improvements in the electronics sector.