Bureau Veritas Assists in Founding the Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA)

BUFFALO, New York, November 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

~ The Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) was created last month in an effort to bring more credibility to auditors addressing working conditions around the world ~ 

The Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) was created to ensure the professionalism, consistency and credibility of individual auditors and organizations performing independent social compliance audits, and to promote the use of independent social compliance audits, as a tool to advance workplace conditions for workers globally. The APSCA certification process will ensure auditors have consistent training, education, background checks, and demonstrated competencies that are standard requirements in comparable professional auditor associations.

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Social compliance audits, often conducted by third party auditing firms, are one of the tools used by multinational organizations to assess supply chain facilities' and farms' compliance with local and international expectations of labor conditions. A result of a year's effort on the part of leading social compliance auditing firms, including Arche Advisors, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, RINA, SGS, TUV Rheinland, TUV Sud, and UL, APSCA has been created to meet industry needs as supply chains become increasingly global and while hundreds of thousands of social compliance audit reports are already in circulation.

"Today, working conditions around the world are increasingly scrutinized by consumers and media, and multinational organizations are expecting more transparency from their suppliers. However, social compliance audits performed to-date are inconsistent." said Roger Brockway of the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA), a major sponsor of APSCA.

"As challenges for workers around the world continue to evolve, and companies' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) needs continue to expand, it is more important than ever to bring consistency to the social compliance auditing industry. Companies and workers throughout the world rely on the oversight provided by social compliance audits, and APSCA endeavors to provide a leading level of assurance."

APSCA welcomes applicants to register for APSCA certification starting January 1st, 2016. Primarily focusing on members from the social compliance auditing industry, APSCA will later include other types of auditors such as internal auditor staff from brand or retailer organizations.

Additionally, as the association expands, APSCA is actively seeking an executive director to lead this initiative, and is also currently forming an executive and stakeholder board to be fully functional in the coming weeks.

For more information on how you can participate, contact [email protected]

About Bureau Veritas 

Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection and certification services. Founded in 1828, the group has more than 66,500 employees in 1,400 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environment protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index (Compartment A, code ISIN FR 006174348, stock symbol: BVI) Website: http://www.bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas' Consumer Products Services division is a leading global quality assurance provider for the global consumer product and retail markets. It offers an array of specialized services including testing, inspections, audits and engineering services for a wide range of consumer products. These products include hard goods; toys and juvenile products; soft goods; premiums;  electrical and electronic products including wireless and mobile devices; automotive equipment; food products as well as health, beauty, cosmetics, and household products. Website: http://www.bureauveritas.com/cps

SOURCE Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services