Suppliers and contractors
Ensuring our suppliers and contractors respect our human rights policies
We build strong relationships with our supply chain and we require compliance with internationally recognized standards, such as the provisions on safety, the environment, ethical behavior, and respect for human rights that are currently in force in our internal regulations.
We ensure that our suppliers, contractors, and distributors' behavior is aligned with our commitments through the following processes:
- Selection
- Assessment
- Control
For that, we include clauses in contracts with our partners and contractors, and we carry out social audits to promote compliance with our principles and commitments with partners, while encouraging them to reach our standards through awareness-raising activities.
One example is the success story of our communication of the Human Rights policy to our contractors in Bolivia.
An example of our policy dissemination efforts in Bolivia
An example of our policy dissemination efforts in Bolivia
Our Human Rights and Community Relations Policy was updated in 2019. In order to ensure its proper dissemination in the Bolivia Business Unit, we carried out an awareness campaign aimed at our employees and contractors, communities close to our operations, partners, and civil society institutions.
This policy is part of the training process to enter the field in assets operated by Repsol, but this update was used to strengthen the policy knowledge and integration of our commitments into our day-to-day work and that of our contractors. Moreover, we further raised awareness of our operational-level grievance mechanism which was implemented back in 2011. This mechanism ensures that claims, complaints, and compliance breaches are handled properly.
In addition to communication initiatives by means of leaflets and signage, 32 training sessions were carried out where 703 people were trained including all our employees, contractors, and the communities near our Caipipendi and Mamoré operations.
Responsible management of suppliers and contractors
Responsible supply chain management is essential for preventing and mitigating risks. It brings specific risks to light and is linked to job creation and the development of the local economy in the communities where we operate. We establish control levels and a system to help us ensure that our suppliers and contractors always act in line with our commitments.
The Ethics and Conduct Code for Suppliers (PDF l 6.97 MB) includes rights such as the rejection of child labor, rejection of forced labor, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining. All of the companies that maintain a contractual relationship with us have to respect this code. We work to ensure that our relationships with more than 4,500 suppliers are sound. We build relationships based on integrity and mutual respect and trust, in addition to the quality of the products and services they offer us.
Repsol's General Conditions for Procurement and Contracting (PDF l 531 KB) in the calls for proposals and tenders and in the auditing and qualification questionnaires are used to regulate the relationship between the company and suppliers. All of the requirements we have for our contractors also apply to subcontractors, including a specific clause on sustainability.
3. We assess our suppliers to identify the economic, technical, social, ethical, and environmental risks in the various phases of our business relationship. We are constantly thinking about how to contribute to the economic development of the places where we operate, especially through the local suppliers we contract. That's why we use different supplier management tools throughout the procurement process:
- The qualification process aims to mitigate the risks that can arise from the various links in the supply chain by identifying critical suppliers and ensuring they are able to supply the different goods and services responsibly and analyzing business, financial, and technical aspects, in addition to aspects related to management systems that apply to safety and environment and quality; and aspects related to ethics and human rights. This process may be conducted in greater or lesser detail depending on the monetary amount and the possible risk or impact the procurement or contracting may have in terms of safety, environment, ethical behavior, and respect for human rights.
- We perform qualification audits to verify the information the suppliers provide during the rating process. The depth at which we analyze the different factors is greater when the supplier's level of criticality is higher due to the type of good or service provided or the place in which it is manufactured or provided. As a general rule, in rating audits, we mainly review the quality, safety, and environmental management systems, in addition to the code of ethics, respect for human rights, labor practices, and measures against fraud and corruption, verifying that the information provided in the rating process is accurate. The social audits analyze the aspects covered by the rating audit in more detail, as well as the supplier or contractor's supply chain management.
- After the work has been performed, or while it is being performed, we assess the supplier's performance by analyzing their compliance with the required aspects related to management, quality, safety, environment, labor, ethics, and human rights. This assessment also helps to complete the information on the supplier or contractor during the re-rating process and serves to establish a systematic, documented process to follow in the assessment of suppliers and contractors.