Suppliers to European and UK brands are usually asked for one of two social audits: a Sedex SMETA report or an amfori BSCI audit. They examine similar ground, but they are not interchangeable.
SMETA in brief
SMETA is an audit methodology, not a certification. It produces a report of findings shared through the Sedex platform, covering labour standards, health and safety, and optionally environment and business ethics in the four-pillar version.
There is no pass mark. Buyers read the findings and decide.
amfori BSCI in brief
BSCI assesses thirteen performance areas and issues a graded rating from A to E. The rating determines how soon the next audit falls due, so a weak result costs both remediation effort and audit frequency.
Where they overlap
Wages and working hours, freedom of association, no child or forced labour, health and safety, and grievance mechanisms appear in both. If your records are clean for one, the bulk of the other is already covered.
What to prepare
Documentation is where most non-conformities originate, not on the production floor.
After the audit
Both schemes expect a corrective action plan with root cause, action, owner and deadline. Auditors accept honest timelines with evidence far more readily than a plan claiming everything was resolved the same week.