Why ICT companies need to address forced labour risks in lower supply chain tiers

On paper, the majority of the largest global ICT companies have policies in place asking their suppliers to not only implement their standards, but to also cascade their standards further down the supply chains.

Yet our findings show that implementation often stops at tier 1 – and highlight what needs to change.

ICT supply chains are highly inter-connected. Many of the largest global ICT companies buy from and supply to each other.

Such strong interconnectedness presents both risks and opportunities. Top-performing companies in the benchmark disclose a range of steps taken to address forced labour risks in particular at first-tier suppliers: and require their suppliers to cascade their standards further down their supply chains.

Yet, they all source from lower-scoring suppliers, meaning suppliers do not seem to implement these requirements in their own supply chains. While some of these suppliers might have stronger practices in their own operations, they fall short on disclosing how they address risks in their own supply chains.