Social Compliance Audit Guidelines

All (Non-Major Brand) Suppliers which provide items that BJ’s is the Importer of Record must meet these

requirements. All audits, security assessments (GSV or C-TPAT) and Corrective Action Program’s (CAPA)

must be reviewed and signed off by BJ’s Regulatory Group.

If a Vendor has their own audit:

BJ’s understands that vendors will sometimes conduct a social compliance audit. BJ’s will accept this audit in

lieu of conducting their own audit if all conditions are met. If any of the following conditions are not met,

or the authenticity of the audit is in question the vendor will be required to perform a new audit. BJ’s

reserves the right to mandate an audit even if all conditions are met.

1. The audit must be less than 365 days old.

2. The audit must be from one of our approved audit firms. BJ’s has a select group of auditing firms

that we will accept audits from. These firms audit to standards comparable to ours, are leaders in the

industry, and are trustworthy.  

3. The audit must be complete and conducted for the facility. We will not accept: just the scoring page,

any missing pages, a score from another retailer’s audit, an internal assisted audit.

4. If the audit has any non-compliances they must be addressed by CAPA in a timely manner. All

CAPA’s must be documented by photo were possible. Any non-compliance for forced labor,

child labor, equal opportunity, freedom of association, or disciplinary practices will require a

re-audit. Vendor will be treated as if they do not have their own audit.

5. If there is an industry standard (i.e. ICTI for Toys, or Worldwide Responsible Accredited

Production (WRAP) for Apparel, etc.) for any department, those guidelines must be included in the

audit submitted.  

If Vendor does not have their own audit:

1. The vendor will be directed to our third party partner whom we have a contract with for social

compliance auditing.

2. An audit will be scheduled for review prior to the shipment of goods. The audit will be conducted

according to our vendor code of conduct as well as any industry standards. The audit will be semiannounced. This means that only a broad window will be given, this will ensure the factory is in

production. Any attempts to alter the audit date after scheduling can result in the requirement of an

unannounced audit.

3. Any verification of the following will result in immediate denial of the factory and will result in

further notification to upper management: Bribery Attempt, Child Labor, Forced Labor, or

Disciplinary Practices.  

4. Any CAPA’s needed will be addressed immediately, or by timeline prior to the end of audit. All

CAPA’s will be addressed through photographs.