Product

Every day, we give 100% to offer products which go beyond compliance with safety and quality standards. 

We aim to source our products responsibly, taking societal and environmental interests into consideration in our supply chain processes. All while striving to continue to provide available and affordable products. We seek to improve product circularity, and aim to mitigate the negative impact caused by pollution from packaging by increasing the use of renewable materials and using less packaging material.  

Responsible sourcing  

Action has a global and elaborate supply chain, as it sources products for fourteen different product categories. We value environmental, human, and labour rights because we have a high potential to make positive impact and mitigate negative impact wherever we do business. Moreover, we aim to be compliant with current and future national and international laws and regulations. To live up to these values it is important to responsibly source all our products.

N’zi N’guessan Moya Adeline Flavie  

N’zi is a cocoa farmer and owns her land which she inherited from her father. She has been running her farm for ten years and produces cocoa, bananas, cassava and yams. Cocoa is the only product she can sell for money. The rest she uses for consumption. The land is divided into smaller plots that are tended by other family members, mainly nephews. N’zi supervises and makes sure the land is cultivated well.  

" We continue to see a growth in consumer purchase of Fairtrade products. In 2021, cocoa was our largest growth category at 15% from the prior year leading to significant impact for cocoa farmers. This is in large part due to commitments from companies like Action. We are proud to work with Action on their continued journey towards better incomes and dignified livelihoods for cocoa farmers. We count Action as one of our important long-term partners on the road to social justice for all.” 

Peter d’Angremond 

Director Fairtrade Netherlands. 

Rogier van der Vat and Fabio Magnani Managing Director Dayes Europe B.V.

Our supplier Dayes delivers more than 500 different products on a daily basis to Action stores across Europe. To keep playing at our level, they must constantly innovate. Sustainable products play a significant role in this. Managing director Rogier van der Vat and Fabio Magnani from our supplier Dayes explain.   

“Action prepares its suppliers to join amfori and as such, allows both them and Action to work more diligently on both social and environmental supply chain due diligence.” 

Norma Wouters-Snell 

Network Representative 

- The Netherlands from Amfori BSCI.

Progress made  

In 2022, we conducted our first pilot for the environmental monitoring of factories. 28 suppliers completed the amfori BEPI self-assessment and two suppliers completed an on-site BEPI audit. The results have given us an initial understanding of potential and actual environmental impacts in our supply chain. We are a proud partner of amfori’s BEPI pilot, to address environmental challenges in Action’s direct operations. In 2023, this will provide us with essential feedback about our suppliers before a roll-out of the BEPI platform to a number of our direct factories in 2023.

In addition, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act will go into effect in 2023. To be compliant with this legislation we engaged consultancy firm Enact to evaluate our current due diligence practices. We performed our first risk analysis to identify our most salient human rights and environmental risks, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and German Due Diligence requirements. The risk assessment covers the production of our products and raw materials in 29 risk countries (as defined by the amfori Country Risk Classification in 2022). We also performed a gap analysis to see what internal processes and policies we need to improve.

Action’s private and white label suppliers sourcing from one or more risk countries (as defined by amfori BSCI in their yearly Country Risk Classification) are required to be an active member of amfori. We believe it is our shared responsibility to ensure good ethical and environmental practices throughout our supply chain and the communities in which we operate. One of our key priorities is to ensure that our products are produced in a responsible manner with respect to human rights. In an effort to further our ambitions we are increasingly engaging with our suppliers. In 2022, 94% of our domestic suppliers had an active membership.

The responsible sourcing policies are implemented through third-party certification with strategic partners such as FSC, Better Cotton and Fairtrade. We are proud on the fact that 100% of our own brand (private label) cocoa products are sourced via Fairtrade, including a €384,000 Fairtrade premium that goes directly towards the cooperatives. With this premium, farmers and their communities can, amongst other things, plant shade trees to protect cocoa plants, buy fertiliser, be trained on good agricultural practices or build schools. This enables us to make a positive impact.

Social

In 2022, 98% of factories were assessed on social impacts through social audits and spot checks. There were five cases identified with significant actual and potential negative social impacts; two bribery attempts, one case of unauthorised subcontracting, one unethical business behaviour case and one child labour case. The child labour case was remediated by our partner Centre for Child Rights with the cooperation of the factory. Education was offered to the child and training was provided to the recruitment officers at the factory. There were no findings to suggest forced, compulsory or bonded labour in our supply chain.

All in all, 80% of the significant actual and potential negative social impacts identified were remediated in 2022. One case that occurred in late December is still pending remediation. No relationships were terminated as a result of these cases.

In order to prevent cases like the one described above, and because in 2023 the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act will go into effect, Action engaged the consultancy firm Enact to evaluate its current due diligence practices. We performed our first risk analysis to identify our most salient risks and a gap analysis to see what internal processes and policies we need to improve.

Monitoring and evaluation

We are continuously mapping the production locations of new private and white label articles. After all, supply chain transparency is the basis on which we monitor social compliance in our chain. We conduct factory audit and follow ups, ensuring that the production of our private and white label assortment respects our policies. The social audits are performed yearly by third-party auditing firms such as Intertek or TÜV Rheinland. Our preferred alignment is towards the BSCI Code of Conduct. However, to avoid auditing fatigue, we do accept another four internationally recognised social and ethical standards: SA8000, SMETA, WRAP and ICTI.  

Apart from the social audits, we monitor potential human rights violations through our spot check programme. As part of this programme, we monitor 15% of our direct import suppliers. We select them based on risk and each spot check is unannounced. Every year, independent third parties execute the social audits and spot checks in the factories that work for Action. During this monitoring, factories are rated on 13 criteria using a rating, A being the best and E being the worst. Action has set a minimum business requirement of a C rating for all factories. The cases we encountered in 2022 range from D-rated factories to critical issues such as attempted bribery. When we identify a non-compliance with our standards, we follow our policies and procedures to mitigate the negative impact, with a priority on remediation and in severe cases  termination of the contract. In every case, we evaluate the situation extensively and decide on the best course of action.