The increasing globalization of the goods and capital markets is enabling international companies to create global production and sales networks. The creation of these global networks goes hand in hand with the responsibility to respect the basic principles for the ways in which people live and work together – at the BMW Group as well as in our supply chain.
Based on globally valid and recognized guidelines and principles, the BMW Group has set specific standards and principles for its suppliers for production materials and non-production related supplies. These include a commitment to social and environmental responsibility and to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact as well as respecting internationally acknowledged human rights and labor and social standards. Compliance with the BMW Group Supplier Sustainability Standards is manifested in the BMW Groups IPCs and form binding requirements for integrating sustainability within the entire supply chain.
Further, all contracts with suppliers of the BMW Group contain clauses, which refer to the principles of the UN Global Compact and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and, thus, establish a contractual ban of bribery and corruption, as well as the obligation to pass on this ban to the following production stage. Prior to every new award of a supplier contract, compliance with these requirements is considered.
Our vision is that not only out first tier suppliers, but also our n-tier suppliers regard compliance with these standards as a given. To achieve this, we support and assist our suppliers comprehensively. As a first step, we recommend all our first tier suppliers to introduce management systems to ensure compliance with our sustainability requirements. In addition, we encourage the upper management of our first tier and n tier suppliers to clearly commit to sustainability and to the continuous improvement of complying with our sustainability standards. This commitment should be backed up by regular reviews, concrete targets, measures, and audits as well as trainings and transparent communication.
