Report: Improvements and challenges in factory working conditions

The report, Impacts and Insights, measures the 2016 effects of new criteria aimed at broadening brand owner responsibility for supply chain working conditions, conflict minerals initiatives and inclusion of safer chemicals. The current generation of TCO Certified, launched in November 2015, places greater overall responsibility for product and factory compliance on brand owners.

A case study of 16 brand owners shows improved working conditions in factories manufacturing certified products compared with 2013. Improvements were observed in areas such as discrimination and freedom of association.

Sören Enholm, CEO of TCO Development, comments: “We’re really pleased to see these improvements in important areas like discrimination and forced labor in the factories where certified products are made. However, an issue that keeps coming up is excessive overtime. While we’ve seen some improvements in 2016, it’s clearly something that will demand our continued attention moving forward”.

The electronics supply chain is very complex. “Brand owners are best positioned to take overall responsibility for social and environmental sustainability, and the follow-up from TCO Development shows positive effects when they are held accountable for this”, says Bjorn-Erik Lonn, Chair Global Ecolabelling Network, GEN.

The new generation has also brought about a paradigm shift in use of hazardous chemicals in IT products. The health and environmental effects of most chemicals used today are unknown. To provide a way forward, TCO Certified now only accepts flame retardants that have been independently benchmarked as safer alternatives.

Both IT purchasers and industry use TCO Certified to make more responsible choices. Enholm adds: “Buyers really hold the key and the brand owners take note of that. By requiring TCO Certified products, purchasers send a direct message to industry about the importance of social and environmental responsibility”.

Lonn concludes: “Among our ecolabel members of GEN, TCO Certified is a forerunner in the certification of electronics.”

About GEN

The Global Ecolabelling Network, GEN, is a non-profit association of leading ecolabelling organisations in accordance with ISO 14024 Type 1 Ecolabel. GEN was founded in 1994 and has a network of over 30 members, spread across 60 countries.