What is the difference between SA8000 certification standards and EICC standards?

1. Differences in formulation agencies

SA8000: SAI initiated and worked with some European and American multinational companies and other international organizations to develop social responsibility certification standards.

EICC: In October 2004, HP, Dell and IBM jointly issued the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), which aims to establish standardized socially responsible behavior norms in the global supply chain of the electronics industry. The code consists of a series of basic norms, covering labor and recruitment, health and safety, environmental responsibility, management systems and ethics. With the participation of Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and Sony, HP, Dell and IBM jointly established a supply chain working group to formulate a comprehensive implementation plan for the implementation of EICC.

2. Differences in requirements

The specific contents of SA8000 social responsibility certification standards include: child labor, compulsory employment, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, differential treatment, punitive measures, working hours, remuneration, and management system.

EICC Electronic Industry Code of Conduct: Labor standards (free choice of occupation, avoidance of child labor, working hours, wages and benefits, humane treatment, non-discrimination, freedom of association); Health and Safety (occupational safety, emergency plans and responses, occupational injuries and diseases, industrial hygiene, manual labor, machine safety protection, dormitories and canteens); Environment (environmental permits and reports, pollution prevention and resource conservation, hazardous substances, wastewater and solid waste, exhaust emissions, product content restrictions); Management System (company commitment, management responsibilities and responsibilities, legal and customer requirements, risk assessment and risk management, performance goals with implementation plans and measures, training, communication, employee feedback and participation, audits and evaluations, corrective action procedures, documents and records); Ethics (business integrity, no improper interests, information disclosure, intellectual property protection, fair trade, advertising and competition, identity protection, community participation).

3. Differences in authentication modes

SA8000: Conformity audit, there cannot be a serious failure. Issued by an organization recognized by SAI (such as BSI). Since the Chinese government does not support SA8000, there are very few certified companies.

EICC: Evaluative audit, the final audit results are green, yellow and red. The requirement for green is that there are no major non-conformities and the overall compliance percentage is ≥85%. The requirement for yellow is that there are only 1 to 2 major non-conformities or the overall compliance percentage is 85%＞X≥65%. The requirement for red means that there are 3 or more major non-conformities or the overall compliance percentage is <65.

IV. Conclusion

SA8000: It only targets corporate social responsibility, with an emphasis on labor standards.

EICC: It actually includes the key requirements of SA8000, ISO14001, OHSAS18001, and QC080000 (hazardous substance management system), and is an integrated requirement.