STATEMENT ON TRANSPARENCY IN SUPPLY CHAINS
January 2024-December 2024
BISSELL International Trading Company, B.V., and its affiliate companies, including BISSELL Homecare, Inc. and its related divisions and subsidiaries, (collectively “BISSELL”) support the goals of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 and are committed to the highest standards for delivering products that inspire our customers and consumers. This includes our commitment to the legal, ethical, and humanitarian principles of our founders, Melville and Anna Bissell, who understood that a company and its products are only as good as the people who make them.
1. Verification
BISSELL aims to partner with substantial, well-established, and professional businesses in the supply of its products, and all such suppliers must commit to a Supplier Code of Conduct and renew that commitment each year. Pursuant to the Supplier Code of Conduct, Suppliers must operate within all legal requirements in each country where products or parts are made for BISSELL. BISSELL recognizes there are different legal environments in which our Suppliers operate, and we expect our Suppliers to follow the laws of their own countries, but we are committed to promoting a minimum standard of humanitarian and environmental awareness that may exceed local laws. Through its Supplier Code of Conduct, Suppliers agree not to use child labor or forced labor, and to treat their employees with respect and dignity. Each BISSELL Supplier also agrees:
“Forced, bonded (including debt bondage) or indentured labor, involuntary prison labor, slavery or trafficking of persons shall not to be used. This includes transporting, harboring, recruiting, transferring or receiving vulnerable persons by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction or fraud for the purpose of exploitation.”
Each Supplier is responsible for ensuring the compliance of its own suppliers.
BISSELL is a member of SEDEX (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to driving improvements in responsible and ethical business practices in global supply chains. SEDEX is currently being used by a number of leading retailers and brand manufacturers. SEDEX visits and audits more than 100,000 sites annually. More information can be found at www.sedex.com.
2. Supplier Audits
BISSELL conducts audits of its finished goods suppliers, based on compliance with SEDEX SMETA 4-Pillar audit requirements. BISSELL reserves the right to verify Supplier compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct through unannounced on-site assessments, and we also commission audits of our Suppliers by a qualified independent third party. Each finished good supplier is audited regularly by our internal quality team. BISSELL has a number of major suppliers of finished goods and many more minor suppliers and, consequently, we perform or commission over 50 audits annually.
If our audits identify potential issues regarding compliance with our manufacturing requirements or our Supplier Code of Conduct, we follow up with a corrective action list and monitor the Supplier’s response. Depending on the severity of the out-of-compliance condition and the Supplier’s demonstrated commitment to a comprehensive and appropriate response, we reserve the right to take additional corrective measures, up to and including the immediate termination of purchase orders and/or purchase agreements.
3. Certification
BISSELL Suppliers certify their compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct every year, through the annual signature of a high-ranking officer on the Code of Conduct document. Failure by a Supplier to comply with its local laws or the Supplier Code of Conduct will result in corrective measures, up to and including the termination of BISSELL’s business arrangement if the Supplier demonstrates any reluctance in promptly correcting any out-of-compliance condition.
4. Internal Accountability and Associate Training
Since BISSELL was founded by Melville and Anna Bissell in 1876, our business practices have been governed by integrity, honesty, fair dealing, and full compliance with all applicable laws. BISSELL owes its longevity to these principles. BISSELL Associates worldwide must annually sign off on a Global Code of Conduct, which reminds and re-commits our entire workforce regarding the importance of this promise. Every BISSELL Associate is directed to report any instance of unethical or illegal behavior by BISSELL or by any of its business partners, including its Suppliers, as part of their commitment to the BISSELL Global Code of Conduct, and associates who are aware of such activity and fail to report them are themselves subject to discipline.
BISSELL reviews Employee Handbooks with a list of local policies regarding our policies on ethics. BISSELL Associates are required to acknowledge their adherence to these policies upon hire and when regulatory changes occur. These policies are provided to all our global Associates through our e-learning system.
BISSELL Associates with the responsibility for auditing its Suppliers are trained for these duties through an extensive mentoring process, by which they are required to attend numerous audits in the company of their experienced supervisors, assisting in the required documentation against the appropriate checklists. These Associates attend all third-party audits (SEDEX) and are required to update our internal audit standards as developments in “best practices” are identified.
BISSELL adheres to C-TPAT standards for loading all containers of BISSELL goods for international shipping. These standards include a requirement for inspection of each container to ensure there are no hidden compartments prior to loading, with pictures taken of each empty container. Pictures are also taken during and after each loading process, again ensuring that no human trafficking activity can be associated with our product movement. Containers are then sealed with tamper-proof serialized sealing requirements to prevent anyone from changing their contents during shipment. A comprehensive checklist is completed and signed confirming compliance with this process, for every BISSELL container.
BISSELL has third-party auditors conduct audits at all major Tier I and Tier II suppliers using SEDEX’s SMETA 4-Pillar audit standards. This audit is designed to help auditors conduct high quality audits that encompass all aspects of responsible business practice, covering SEDEX’s four pillars of Labor, Health and Safety, Environment and Business Ethics (including slavery).
Internal BISSELL audits are conducted multiple times each year to ensure the practices and standards are being maintained. In addition, BISSELL has a daily presence at all major suppliers’ facilities to ensure all standards are being controlled and followed.
All audit findings for all three audit standards require corrective actions and a follow-up process to confirm and close out the finding.
We manage the risks to our organization by maintaining consistent and high standards of due diligence and risk mitigation processes to monitor for and avoid modern slavery in all environments in which we operate, regardless of whether the environment or the suppliers with whom we work are more or less vulnerable to modern slavery.
In 2021, BISSELL launched an online and telephone reporting system to report ethics concerns. This system is available to suppliers, Associates, and customers and allows the business and human resource partners to align on reported ethics concerns globally.
In 2022, we identified some key training for BISSELL Associates regarding the risks of modern slavery in general.
In 2023, we made available to all BISSELL Associates a report of our responsibilities and duties under the Modern Slavery Act accompanied by a voluntary training opportunity around the risks of modern slavery in supply chains. We also created a process for suppliers to identify any potential use of conflict materials in their supply chain.
In 2024, we required mandatory supply chain risk management training to relevant Associates who work in supply chain.
This statement is made pursuant to section 1714.43 of the California Civil Code, known as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657). It covers the fiscal year January to December 2024.