What each scheme actually is

SMETA stands for Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit. It is an audit methodology published by Sedex and carried out by third party firms, assessing a site against local law and the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, with the higher standard prevailing. Sedex states that SMETA is not a certification and operates without pass or fail determinations.

amfori BSCI is the Business Social Compliance Initiative run by amfori, a Brussels based business association. It assesses a site against the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct across thirteen performance areas and produces a letter rating. amfori is equally explicit: “No, amfori BSCI is not a certification.” A buyer who writes “supplier must be SMETA certified” into a tender has asked for something that does not exist. Social audit sits alongside, not inside, the EU-specific vendor pack documents a European buyer collects.

The four SMETA pillars, and what a two pillar audit leaves out

SMETA is scoped as either a two pillar or a four pillar audit. The table compares what each covers.

Most European buyers of disposable tableware ask for two pillar and then find they wanted the environment pillar. If your customers ask about water use, waste handling or chemical storage at the point of manufacture, specify four pillar at the outset. Upgrading later means a second audit, not an extension of the first.

The ETI Base Code has nine clauses: employment is freely chosen, freedom of association and collective bargaining are respected, working conditions are safe and hygienic, child labour shall not be used, living wages are paid, working hours are not excessive, no discrimination is practised, regular employment is provided, and no harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed. Clauses 5 and 6 drive most findings at Indian sites. Clause 6 sets normal hours at 48 a week excluding overtime, caps total hours in any seven day period at 60, and requires one day off in seven. Clause 5 requires wages for a standard week to meet national legal or industry benchmark standards, whichever is higher.

How a SMETA report is structured

A SMETA audit produces two documents, and buyers who read only the first miss most of the information. The Corrective Action Plan Report (CAPR) summarises findings and records agreed corrective and preventative actions with timescales and verification methods. The full audit report carries site context, the systems and evidence examined, and photographic evidence. A supplier who sends the CAPR but not the full report is giving you conclusions without their basis.

Findings are classified two ways at once. By severity: Business Critical, an imminent or serious risk to life or severe human rights impact; Critical, a systemic, deliberate or severe breach representing danger to workers; Major, a systemic breach that could present danger or violate human rights; Minor, an isolated breach with low risk. By type: Non-Compliance where the site fails local or international law, Non-Conformance where the site meets the law but not the ETI Base Code, Collaborative Action Required where resolution needs multiple stakeholders, and Good Example where practice exceeds requirements.

Read the pairing. A Major Non-Conformance on working hours says the site is inside Indian law but outside the ETI Base Code. A Major Non-Compliance on the same clause says it is outside Indian law.

How amfori BSCI scores a site

An amfori BSCI audit works through 81 questions answered Yes, No, Partial or Not Applicable, of which 20 are crucial questions carrying greater weight. Answers map to thirteen performance areas, each rated A to E, which combine into an overall rating. amfori does not publish the algorithm behind the performance area ratings, so the system cannot be gamed.

The thirteen performance areas run from social management system and cascade effect through fair remuneration, decent working hours, occupational health and safety, no child labour, special protection for young workers, no precarious employment, no bonded or forced labour, protection of the environment and ethical business behaviour.

amfori does publish the overall thresholds. An A requires at least seven performance areas rated A and none rated C, D or E. A B allows a maximum of three rated C and none rated D or E. A C allows a maximum of two rated D and none rated E. A site rated A or B takes its next full audit within two years. A site rated C or below takes a follow up audit between two and twelve months later, focused on the areas needing improvement rather than all 81 questions.

The amfori BSCI Zero Tolerance Protocol supersedes the normal process when an auditor finds child labour, bonded or forced labour, inhumane treatment, a health and safety violation posing an imminent and critical threat, or unethical behaviour such as attempted bribery. The auditor must collect evidence, protect victims and raise a platform alert within 24 hours, then submit the full report within five working days.

Reading a corrective action plan instead of a grade

A grade is a snapshot. A corrective action plan tells you whether the site improves. Four checks, in order.

Is the root cause stated, or only the symptom? “Overtime records incomplete for three months”, actioned as “maintain records”, is a restatement. “Overtime records incomplete because the time system does not capture the second shift”, actioned as a system change, is a root cause.

Does the action have a named owner and a date? A CAPR listing “HR department, Q3” cannot be verified.

Does the same finding appear in the previous audit? A repeat Minor is worse evidence than a fresh Major. Ask for the prior cycle’s CAPR and compare line by line. A supplier who will not supply it has answered the question.

Does the verification method fit the finding? Document review verifies a policy, not that the policy reached the shop floor. A finding about worker awareness should be verified by worker interview.

What these audits do not cover in an areca leaf supply chain

An areca leaf plate is pressed from a fallen leaf sheath collected from areca plantations, often by smallholders and collection agents, then moved to a pressing unit before reaching an exporter’s finished goods area. A SMETA or an amfori BSCI audit covers the audited site. It does not audit the plantations, the collectors, or, unless named in the scope, subcontracted pressing units.

A four pillar SMETA report on an exporter’s facility therefore tells you a great deal about that facility and very little about the tier below it. If your risk concern sits at the collection tier, a site audit is not the instrument that answers it, and no supplier should tell you otherwise. Ask instead for a mapped, named list of pressing units and collection points with locations, plus a written statement of which the exporter has visited and how often. Where areca leaf tableware is actually made shows why the supply base is not a single building.

The second limit is time. An audit samples two or three days of a site that runs all year.

Are you actually required to ask for this?

Many buyers assume a legal obligation that does not yet apply to them.

Directive (EU) 2024/1760, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, entered into force on 25 July 2024 and has been amended by Directive (EU) 2025/794 and Directive (EU) 2026/470 under the Omnibus I package. As amended, Member States must transpose it by 26 July 2028 and it applies from 26 July 2029, with thresholds of at least 5,000 employees and 1.5 billion euro net worldwide turnover for EU companies. In Germany, the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act enforced by the Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (BAFA), applies to companies with at least 3,000 employees from 1 January 2023 and at least 1,000 employees from 1 January 2024.

If your business sits well below those thresholds, your reason for wanting a social audit is commercial or reputational, not statutory. That is a good reason, but it changes what you should specify. A buyer placing one or two containers a year who insists on a fresh four pillar SMETA before award is asking a small supplier to carry a cost that returns inside the unit price, and may exclude capable suppliers who have simply not been audited yet. Two better options: accept an existing recent report shared through the Sedex platform, or share the cost of a first audit after a successful trial order. Confirm your own legal position with your compliance adviser.

Which of the two should you ask for?

Neither is superior. Ask which one your own customers recognise. SMETA gives findings by severity and type with no score, which is more informative and harder to put on a scorecard. amfori BSCI gives a single letter you can file in a supplier database, at the cost of hiding which performance area moved it. If the answer is not obvious, SMETA is the safer default for a first Indian supplier, because one report can be shared with multiple customers on the Sedex platform.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• The EU-specific documents a European buyer adds to a standard vendor pack
• Auditing a supplier you cannot visit: what a remote audit can and cannot verify
• Areca leaf plate exporters in India: how to verify one before you send money
• Where areca leaf tableware is actually made, and what the supply base looks like
• Trade reference calls: what to ask another buyer about a supplier

References