RGA Overview

RGA members commit to the principles and standards outlined in the Freely Chosen Employment and other provisions of the RBA Code of Conduct, namely:

“Participants are committed to uphold the human rights of workers, and to treat them with dignity and respect as understood by the international community. This applies to all workers including temporary, migrant, student, contract, direct employees, and any other type of worker. Forced, bonded (including debt bondage) or indentured labor, involuntary or exploitative prison labor, slavery or trafficking of persons is not permitted. This includes transporting, harboring, recruiting, transferring, or receiving persons by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction or fraud for labor or services.” The full RBA Code of Conduct can be found here.

RGA members also commit to cascading these commitments within their supply chains – at a minimum, requiring immediate/next tier suppliers to acknowledge and implement the principles and standards outlined in the Freely Chosen Employment Section of the RBA Code of Conduct or its equivalent.

RGA members commit to conducting ongoing due diligence on their supply chains to ensure continuous improvement.

For Buyers this is demonstrated through a robust supplier risk assessment and management system, which may include but is not limited to conducting RGA risk assessments or equivalent of their suppliers.

For suppliers this is demonstrated by conducting forced labor assessments on facilities and recruitment partners; followed by specialized forced labor audits that identify areas for improvement. Audits of RGA members may be semi-announced or unannounced, at the discretion of the RGA. The purpose of audits is to ensure onsite compliance verification against the RGA standards and International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labor Indicators using the RBA Specialty Validated Assessment Program (SVAP) on Forced Labor or its equivalent.

Supplier members also agree to implement management systems and practices to ensure voluntary, non-excessive working hours. Workers shall be allowed at least one day off every seven days.

Members in the supplier category commit to remediate findings related to forced labor, including recruitment fee reimbursement as well as other contributing findings to forced labor, with independent, third-party validation.

RGA members use the RBA’s Definition of Fees and other tools including the RBA’s Standard for the Investigation of Repayment of Fees to Workers and the RBA’s Labor Migration Database  to identify, investigate and remediate payments to workers who paid any fees related to their recruitment.

Following an audit, any findings related to non-conformance to the Freely Chosen Employment provisions are addressed through a "Corrective Action Plan" detailing specific actions needed to ensure compliance. All corrections made and remediation provided to workers are documented and verified by a third party during a closure audit. RGA members that are purchasers of rubber gloves commit to providing technical support and capacity building, and (where relevant and mutually agreed upon) financial support to suppliers in the remediation of non-conformances identified. Buyers commit to work with their suppliers to close all non-conformances within the timelines prescribed by the SVAP Operations Manual.

RGA members that manufacture rubber gloves in Malaysia commit to the implementation of an external, independent, credible third-party grievance mechanism/worker helpline within 90 days of membership (RGA membership includes access to a helpline that meets this requirement).

RGA members commit to fostering transparency and accountability for all stakeholders involved; and all members agree to disclose their operational footprint to the RGA Secretariat to facilitate full supply chain mapping and to ensure commitments are being cascaded to all suppliers.