Responsible sourcing

Much of what Nooryva sources is grown, picked, processed or made by people a long way from the buyer. This page sets out what we expect of the suppliers behind those goods, what we do about it, and, just as importantly, the limits of what we can honestly claim.

What we require of a supplier

Anybody supplying us is expected to meet these as a minimum, whatever local practice allows:

• No forced labour of any kind. No bonded labour, no debt bondage, no withheld identity documents, no recruitment fees charged to workers, and no restriction on a worker’s freedom to leave.
• No child labour. No one under the legal minimum working age, and no one under eighteen in hazardous work. Where family smallholdings are involved, children’s schooling must not be displaced by work.
• Safe working conditions. Safe equipment, clean water, sanitation, protective equipment where it is needed, and proper handling of pesticides and chemicals.
• Lawful pay and hours. Wages at or above the legal minimum, paid on time and in full, without unlawful deductions. Overtime voluntary and paid at the proper rate.
• Freedom of association, and no retaliation for exercising it.
• No discrimination and no harassment.
• Lawful environmental practice, including waste, effluent and protected land, and no sourcing from illegally cleared land.

What we actually do about it

We would rather describe a real process than an impressive one:

• We buy, wherever we can, from suppliers we have visited and continue to deal with, rather than through anonymous intermediaries. Knowing a supplier over years is the single most effective control available to a house of our size.
• We ask new suppliers about their labour practices and their own sources, and we ask for the certifications that exist for that commodity.
• We check the documentation that must exist anyway, such as phytosanitary and origin certificates, against what we are told.
• Where a buyer requires audit or certification to a particular scheme, we will arrange it and pass on its cost, and we will tell you honestly whether the supplier is likely to pass.

What we do not claim

This is the part most sourcing policies leave out:

• We do not audit every supplier. We are a trading house, not a certification body, and claiming otherwise would be a lie that is easy to tell and hard to check.
• We cannot see to the bottom of every chain. For agricultural goods aggregated from many smallholdings, full traceability to each farm is often not achievable at all, and where it is not, we say so rather than imply it.
• A certificate is evidence, not proof. We treat one as a useful signal rather than a guarantee.

If a buyer needs a stronger assurance than our ordinary process gives, say so at the enquiry stage. We will tell you what is achievable for that commodity and origin, what it costs, and what it will take.

When we find a problem

Where we find a serious breach, our first instinct is not to walk away. Cutting off a supplier immediately usually hurts the workers the policy exists to protect and leaves the practice in place for the next buyer. So, unless the breach is severe or deliberate:

1. We raise it with the supplier and agree what must change and by when.
2. We check that it has changed.
3. We end the relationship if it has not, or if we were misled about it.

Forced labour, child labour and deliberate deception are the exceptions. Those end the relationship at once.

Telling us something

If you know of a problem at a supplier of ours, write to . You can do so anonymously. Nobody who raises a concern in good faith will suffer for it, and we will not disclose who told us without asking you first.

Related

Improper payments are covered by our anti-bribery and ethical conduct policy, and what we will and will not ship is in our trade compliance and sanctions policy.

Which language applies

This policy is published in every language this site is published in. If the versions disagree, the English version applies.