Factory Audit Types Explained: SMETA, amfori BSCI and ISO 9001

SMETA and amfori BSCI

SMETA is the audit methodology created and stewarded by Sedex, an organization that grew out of the UK Ethical Trading Initiative in 2004. Its 2-pillar version assesses labour standards and health and safety — the two founding pillars — and its 4-pillar version adds environment and business ethics; Sedex reports that around 70% of audits now use the full 4-pillar scope. The audit is delivered by approved audit companies, and its output is a report with a corrective action plan, shared with the site's customers through the Sedex platform. Sedex is explicit that SMETA is not a certification: a site is audited, not certified.

amfori BSCI is a separate system run by amfori, built around the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct and, like SMETA, delivered through audits of the site rather than a certificate awarded to it. The two overlap heavily in subject matter and are often accepted as alternatives by retailers, but they are owned by different organizations, use different report formats and are shared through different platforms, so a buyer who requires one should say which.

• SMETA: Sedex methodology; 2-pillar (labour, health & safety) or 4-pillar (+ environment, business ethics)
• Output is an audit report and corrective action plan, not a certificate
• amfori BSCI: separate system by amfori, based on its Code of Conduct, also audit-based
• Often accepted as alternatives, but owned and shared separately

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is an international standard for a quality management system. A company certified to it has had an accredited certification body confirm that its processes — how it handles orders, documents, training, non-conformances, supplier control and continual improvement — meet the standard's requirements. The certificate has a scope (which sites and activities), an issuing body and an expiry date, and it is renewed through surveillance audits. What it says is that the company runs a defined, audited system; what it does not say is that any particular product is good, safe or compliant. A well-run system produces consistent output, which is valuable, but the certificate is evidence about process, not product.

• Certifiable standard for a quality management system
• Certificate has scope, issuer and expiry, maintained by surveillance audits
• Evidence about process consistency, not about product performance or compliance

What None of Them Tell You

None of the three verifies that a product meets a plumbing code, a safety-glass standard, a formaldehyde limit or a water-efficiency specification; those are product certifications with their own bodies and marks. A factory can hold a valid ISO 9001 certificate and a recent 4-pillar SMETA and still supply a product that fails the listing a market requires, and a factory can hold none of them and supply an excellent, fully listed product. The right use of these audits is as evidence about how a site is run — labour conditions, safety, ethics, management discipline — alongside, not instead of, product-level verification and a factory evaluation of your own.

WNS Global does not currently hold ISO 9001 certification or a current SMETA audit, and we say so directly rather than implying otherwise. Where a project or a retailer requires either, that is a conversation to have at the start, with the specific requirement named, so that what can and cannot be provided is clear before the order.

• Not product certifications — product compliance is verified separately
• Evidence about site conduct and management, not product performance
• Use alongside product verification and your own factory evaluation
• WNS Global does not currently hold ISO 9001 or a current SMETA audit