Sourcemap has launched its Forced Labor Compliance Platform (FLCP) to help US businesses meet evolving human rights standards mandated by the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
The platform: The FLCP is meant to manage the end-to-end due diligence reporting requirements of the UFLPA, which is expected to place enhanced scrutiny on the automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, solar power, apparel, food and pharmaceutical industries. More than 3,000 companies have already registered ahead of the 21 June UFLPA enforcement deadline.
- The platform has been developed specifically to help companies solve the "chain of custody challenge" -- proving that they can trace products from raw material to US import -- by assembling definitive proof of the entities within their supply chains. This includes supplier discovery (identifying all of the stakeholders in the supply chain), transaction traceability (following every batch of raw material as it is converted into finished goods) and validation, including scanning suppliers for risk of fraud, waste and abuse.
The Act: The UFLPA aims to prevent products from entering the US if they are made wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), or made from Uyghur labour elsewhere in China. When the UFLPA goes into effect, many of the world's largest industries will be vulnerable to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement, facing risk of detentions, exclusions, seizures and civil or criminal liability if forced labour is found in any tier of their supply chains.
Key features of the FLCP:
- Supplier Discovery: Expands on Sourcemap's supplier discovery software with an automatic classification of suppliers through forced labour risk heat maps for enhanced due diligence.
- End-to-End Traceability: Collects all of the documentation needed to validate the chain of custody, compliance with forced labour regulations, and to root out fraud, waste or abuse that may obscure the presence of forced labour.
- Real-Time Monitoring: Collects real-time data to monitor supplier and overall supply chain risk exposure to fast-changing conditions including sanctions, affiliations, and adverse media, including exposure to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list.
- On-Demand Reporting for CBP: Automatically generates detailed reports on the chain of custody and compliance of individual shipments in response to CBP inquiries and Withhold Release Orders (WROs).
- With more than 400,000 businesses registered on its network, Sourcemap is the largest supply chain mapping and traceability software company, supporting decision-making on over $1.5B of purchased goods. Sourcemap counts 8 of the 10 largest food companies, 4 of the 7 largest apparel companies and 6 of the 10 largest commodity traders in the world among its customers.
What they said:
Forced labour and the global supply chain have become intrinsically connected. Under the UFLPA, companies may be considered guilty until proven innocent. As suppliers seek to de-risk their supply chains and meet coming ESG and trade regulations, our platform is positioned to become the de facto standard for supply chain transparency and traceability.
— Leonardo Bonanni
Founder & CEO
Sourcemap
Under the UFLPA, the most important and difficult questions facing any importer will be 'What do you know about the entities within your entire supply chain?' and 'What proof can you present regarding how imported goods were produced, wholly or in part?'
— John Foote
Head of the customs practice
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
The company: Sourcemap is leader in supply chain transparency and traceability software, spun out of early MIT research in 2011. Since then, major traders, manufacturers and brands have adopted Sourcemap's full-suite solution for assurance on the raw materials-to-finished goods supply chain, including ongoing monitoring for production, quality, sustainability and risks such as deforestation and forced labour.
