SEDEX SMETA Explained

An independent overview from DQS, an accredited certification body.

Sedex SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) is — with over 60,000 in-person audits conducted yearly — the most widely applied ethical trade audit methodology used to evaluate working conditions, occupational health and safety, environmental performance, and business ethics at supplier sites. Developed by Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange), the methodology measures sites against the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code, International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions, and applicable local law, giving customers, supply chain partners, and other external stakeholders a consistent, comparable view of supplier conditions across industries and geographies.

The current version, SMETA 7.0, was published by Sedex on September 10, 2024 and replaced SMETA 6.1. SMETA is widely used by retailers, brands, food and consumer goods producers, manufacturers, and service providers seeking a shared baseline of social and ethical performance across their supply base.

Key Facts about Sedex SMETA at a Glance

Context and Drivers for Sedex SMETA: Why SMETA Matters?

Rising Regulatory Pressure on Human Rights Due Diligence

Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence has moved from voluntary practice to enforceable law in many of the markets served by global supply chains.

The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, LkSG), in force since 2023, established documented due diligence and risk management duties for in-scope companies; the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) suspended its review of corporate reports in October 2025, and German legislators have signaled that the LkSG is to be superseded by a forthcoming Law on International Corporate Responsibility that implements the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in national law.

The CSDDD itself was revised through trilogue negotiations among the EU co-legislators in December 2025, with transition deadlines further adjusted and first-wave application now scheduled for July 26, 2028. Comparable expectations exist in other markets, including the UK Modern Slavery Act, the French Loi de Vigilance, the Norwegian Transparency Act, and the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Across this regulatory landscape, structured supplier audits such as SMETA provide one practical input into the evidence base that organizations use to identify, prevent, and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their value chains.

Customer and Buyer Expectations

A second driver is direct customer expectation. Retailers, brands, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) increasingly require their suppliers to maintain a valid SMETA audit report on the Sedex platform as a condition of doing business or of qualifying for tenders. Because SMETA is a shared methodology, a single audit can serve multiple buyers, which reduces audit fatigue at supplier sites and gives buyers a comparable basis for evaluating risk across their supply base.

Investor, Civil Society, and Worker Voice

Investors and rating agencies look at how organizations manage social and environmental risk in their value chains, and civil society organizations remain a persistent source of scrutiny on issues such as forced labor, child labor, and unsafe working conditions. Worker voice is itself becoming a more prominent element of due diligence, and SMETA 7.0 places strong emphasis on the quality of worker interviews and grievance mechanisms. Together, these expectations make systematic on-site verification — rather than self-declarations alone — an increasingly common requirement.

Core Requirements of Sedex SMETA

SMETA is structured around the ETI Base Code, ILO Conventions, and local law. SMETA 7.0 organizes its content into clearly defined Workplace Requirements covering each substantive area, combined with a Management Systems Assessment (MSA) that looks at how a site governs and sustains conformance with those requirements. The audit is delivered in either a 2-Pillar or a 4-Pillar format.

Pillar 1 – Labor Standards

The Labor Standards pillar covers the rights and treatment of workers at the audited site. It addresses

• freely chosen employment,
• freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining,
• safe working conditions,
• the prohibition of child labor,
• fair and lawful wages and benefits,
• working hours,
• the prohibition of discrimination,
• regular employment and
• the prohibition of harsh or inhumane treatment.

External auditors verify these areas through document review, site observation, and confidential worker interviews.

Pillar 2 – Health and Safety

The Health and Safety pillar focuses on the physical conditions in which work is carried out. It covers

• risk assessments,
• machinery and equipment safety,
• chemical and hazardous material management,
• fire safety and emergency preparedness,
• personal protective equipment,
• worker training,
• dormitory and canteen conditions where applicable and
• occupational health surveillance.

Documentary evidence is corroborated by site walk-throughs and worker interviews.

Pillar 3 – Environment (4-Pillar Audits)

The Environment pillar examines the site’s management of environmental impacts. In the 2-Pillar format, this area is covered at a simplified level; in the 4-Pillar audit, the full Environment module applies. It addresses

• permits and legal compliance,
• waste and wastewater management,
• emissions to air,
• energy and water use,
• hazardous substance handling and
• the existence of environmental policies and objectives.

Pillar 4 – Business Ethics (4-Pillar Audits)

The Business Ethics pillar addresses how the audited organization conducts itself in its commercial relationships. It covers

• anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies,
• conflicts of interest,
• fair business practices,
• intellectual property and confidentiality and
• where relevant — broader human rights commitments beyond the workplace itself.

Management Systems Assessment (MSA)

A central change introduced by SMETA 7.0 is the Management Systems Assessment (MSA), a fixed-scope evaluation of the policies, procedures, and routines that the site uses to maintain conformance over time. The MSA reflects a shift in emphasis from one-off conformance checks toward an evaluation of the underlying processes that support consistent, repeatable performance — helping audit users distinguish between isolated findings and weaknesses in the way a site is governed.

Findings and the Collaborative Action Required (CAR) Category

SMETA findings are categorized by severity and type, enabling auditors and stakeholders to distinguish between Non-Compliances, Observations and Good Examples.

SMETA 7.0 introduces a new classification — Collaborative Action Required (CAR) — for issues that a single site or supplier cannot reasonably resolve on its own, such as systemic living wage gaps or sector-wide child labor risks, among others. CAR findings are intended to flag where buyers, suppliers, and other stakeholders need to work together rather than treat the issue as a unilateral supplier non-conformance.

Audit Cadence and Scheduling

Under updated Sedex guidance adopted in 2026, SMETA audit information is generally considered up to date for 24 months. However, Sedex does not prescribe a mandatory audit frequency matrix. The timing of follow-up audits is typically determined by buyer requirements and risk-based expectations, so organizations should consider the age of audit information when evaluating current site conditions.

Sedex encourages the use of semi-announced audits and requires justification in cases where announced audits are selected.

Sedex Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)

Before an on-site audit, sites complete the Sedex Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) on the Sedex platform. The SAQ captures structured information about the site’s operations, workforce, and management practices, providing the basis for audit planning and contributing to ongoing buyer due diligence between audit cycles.

Sedex SMETA: Target Groups and Application Areas

SMETA is sector-agnostic and is used across virtually every category of goods and services that move through global supply chains. It is particularly relevant for:

• Manufacturing sites producing consumer goods — textiles and apparel, footwear, electronics, toys, home goods, household chemicals, and packaging — use SMETA audits to provide visibility into the social and environmental risks created by labor-intensive production and complex multi-tier supply chains. The Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) has officially recognized the SMETA 7.0 audit methodology.
• Food and beverage producers, including primary agriculture, processing, and packaged food manufacturing, use SMETA to demonstrate conditions across both permanent and seasonal workforces.
• Service providers and logistics operators — warehousing, cleaning, security, contract catering, and transport — use SMETA to provide visibility into often-outsourced and dispersed workforces.
• Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers in the automotive, electronics, and industrial goods sectors increasingly include SMETA audits as part of supplier qualification.

The methodology supports informed decisions by sourcing teams, sustainability functions, and senior leadership. A SMETA audit does not, of itself, deliver improvements at a supplier site; it provides reliable, comparable information on which buyers and suppliers can act. For multinational suppliers, the ability to host a single SMETA audit accepted by many customers reduces duplication and the cumulative cost of overlapping social audits.

Sedex SMETA vs. Other Social Audit Standards

Shared Foundations With Other Ethical Trade Schemes

SMETA is one of several widely used social compliance audit schemes, all of which draw on a similar foundation of ILO Conventions and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Where they differ is in governance, scheme ownership, reporting platforms, and the degree to which results are presented as an audit report (as in SMETA) or as a graded outcome or certificate.

amfori BSCI

The amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) audit is governed by amfori, a Brussels-based business association. Like SMETA, it is based on internationally recognized labor and human rights standards, but it produces a graded result against the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct and is shared on amfori’s own platform rather than on Sedex. SMETA and amfori BSCI cover overlapping but not identical scopes and use different platforms, scoring approaches, and stakeholder networks; they are commonly used in parallel rather than treated as equivalents.

SA8000

SA8000, issued by Social Accountability International (SAI), is a certifiable social management system standard rather than an audit methodology. It requires an organization to implement and maintain a documented system addressing the SA8000 elements — covering similar topics to SMETA — and to undergo accredited third-party certification. SA8000 and SMETA cover overlapping subject matter but use fundamentally different assurance mechanisms; SA8000 produces a certificate, SMETA produces an audit report.

Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct

The RBA Code of Conduct, governed by the Responsible Business Alliance, is used predominantly in the electronics sector and is verified through the Validated Assessment Program (VAP).  Organizations may use results from both schemes as part of broader due diligence activities, but the methodologies remain distinct.

Distinction From Management System Standards

SMETA should not be conflated with management system certifications such as ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management systems) or ISO 14001 (environmental management systems). Those standards specify requirements for a management system that an organization implements and that may be independently certified by an accredited certification body. SMETA, by contrast, is an on-site audit methodology that assesses conditions and management practices against the ETI Base Code and local law at a given point in time. Many organizations use SMETA alongside ISO 45001, ISO 14001, and ISO 9001 to address overlapping but distinct stakeholder expectations.