Article
What should you do about your suppliers? Sustainable Procurement measures
In brief
SUP307 asks: "What actions has your company implemented to integrate social and environmental factors into procurement?" — nine sub-actions. The golden rule: only tick what a dedicated document can prove. A ticked option without specific evidence is neutralised by the assessor and weakens the whole section. In a well-kept industrial SME file, five of the nine options are often coverable immediately; two more are half-day quick wins.
What are the nine sub-actions and their evidence?
1. Supplier CSR code of conduct. The code of conduct and the annual/CSR report. It must attest the communication of your CSR expectations to suppliers — and exist as a document distinct from the sustainable procurement policy: the former is external (suppliers), the latter internal (procurement team).
2. Systematic social and environmental clauses in supplier contracts. Contract instructions, contracts with clauses, or a code of conduct with a section on legal accountability for breaches. The clauses bind suppliers to the requirements and provide for sanctions up to termination.
3. Assessment of adverse CSR-impact risks in the supply chain. Work instructions, internal assessment documents. The process must identify the risks (human rights, employment, corruption, environment, data, consumer interests), assess their nature and extent, and rank them by severity and likelihood — the reference for deciding whether a supplier or purchasing category requires additional actions.
4. Assessment of suppliers on their environmental and social practices. Instructions, questionnaires, checklists. Questionnaire-based review of CSR practices — remote, by a third party or as self-assessment.
5. Buyer training. Training material and proof of delivery, on the social and environmental issues of the supply chain.
6. On-site supplier audits. Audit instructions, audit or inspection reports — CSR audits on site or virtual, announced or not.
7. Sustainable procurement objectives in buyer performance reviews. Review documents containing SP objectives specific to the buyers who select and manage suppliers.
8. Supplier capacity building and incentives. Support and encouragement programmes: training, sharing of good practice, supplier events, awards, access to tenders.
9. Other actions. To tick only if options 1 to 8 do not apply — EcoVadis states this explicitly.
What does a real file look like at a Walloon printer of size S?
Five options to tick now
| # | Option | Main document | Supporting document |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supplier code of conduct | Supplier code of conduct (referenced document, dated 2025) | Samples of signed codes of conduct — proving actual communication, not just existence |
| 2 | Clauses in contracts | The same signed codes (a signed commitment has contractual value) | The CoC section on documentation obligations and corrective measures |
| 3 | Supply-chain risk assessment | Top-5 supplier survey: weighted criticality criteria (including geographic risk) + annex with risks and mitigation measures per supplier | VACCP mapping product/supplier/country with scoring and prioritisation |
| 4 | Questionnaire-based assessment | The same survey: questionnaire, admissibility checklist, /20 grid, responses rated A/B/C + email exchanges | FSSC 22000 certificate (the pre-existing supplier-approval process the procedure extends) |
| 8 | Capacity building | The same survey: level A = co-development partner, mandatory written feedback to C and D ratings + joint work with a film supplier on mono-materials and a PET/OPA/PVC substitution study + template letter | Email exchanges from the first wave |
A single 13-page PDF can carry three options — but split it into two uploads: (a) procedure + questionnaire annexes → options 3 and 4; (b) results annexes + template letter + emails → options 4 and 8. An assessor who has to hunt for an option's evidence in a long PDF finds it less reliably.
Four options not to tick — including two quick wins
5 — Buyer training: nothing in the file; the training plan contains no procurement module. Quick win: a one-hour "Sustainable procurement" toolbox in the format already used elsewhere (material + attendance list) — two pieces of evidence for half a day's work.
6 — On-site audits: audit dates exist, but they are food-safety (FSSC) audits, not CSR — and they live in the Excel table reserved for SUP600. To cover next cycle via an "escalation to on-site audit" section in the procurement procedure.
7 — Buyers' SP objectives: nothing today. Quick win: one sustainable-procurement objective line in the signed annual review of the people in charge of suppliers.
9 — Other actions: since options 1 to 4 apply, ticking it weakens the reading. The documents one might be tempted to put there (cartridge recycling, water fountain, relighting, photovoltaics, EV chargers) are worth more in the Energy/GHG and Waste sections.
Where does the boundary with SUP600 fall?
The supplier-monitoring Excel serves SUP600 (the KPIs), but it carries two elements SUP307 needs — recover them differently: the sanction rule ("insufficient score or no certificate → end of collaboration or audit within 3 months"), to be copied into option 2's template contract clause; and the KPIs (share of purchase volume covered, response rate, third-party-certified share, share of signed CoCs, mitigation measures open/closed), already defined in the procurement procedure — the Excel feeds them, which is exactly SUP600's material.
What should you fix before uploading?
- A placeholder in an annex ("to complete before distribution: number of suppliers contacted, share of volume covered"): fill it — a visibly unfinished internal document discredits the rest.
- The code of conduct has no consequence clause for breaches. A "Template CSR clause" page or a "Non-compliance and consequences" section in v2 turns option 2 from "presumed" into "demonstrated".
- The sustainable procurement policy is cited in the procedure but missing from the file. It does not serve SUP307, but it is indispensable for the Policies question — and a procedure referencing a non-existent document is a blind spot.
Key takeaways
- Only tick the provable: an option without dedicated evidence is neutralised and weakens the whole section.
- A supplier-signed code counts double: actual communication (option 1) and contractual value (option 2).
- Split large PDFs into targeted uploads per option — the assessor must find the evidence immediately.
- Two recurring quick wins: the buyer toolbox (option 5) and an SP objective in a signed review (option 7).
- Keep the KPIs for SUP600, but copy the sanction rule into SUP307's contract clause.