For several years, France Telecom Orange has implemented a responsible purchasing policy. The aim of this is to ensure the application of corporate social responsibility principles in its relations with its suppliers by improving how it controls ethical, social and environmental risks.
These principles are set out in full in The France Telecom-Orange Sourcing and Supply Chain Code of Conduct.
These principles have also been adopted in full in the supplier code of conduct of BuyIn (the equal joint venture created with Deutsche Telekom) to which France Telecom-Orange has contracted part of its sourcing activity.
The France Telecom-Orange Group selects its suppliers through a structured seven-step process, including an assessment of suppliers at the moment of their selection or listing and over the lifetime of the purchase contract.
In addition to its triple focus on "quality, lead times and costs", the Group aims to:
For example, in France, the France Telecom-Orange Group is introducing this policy by implementing three main points:
All contracts with suppliers listed at Group level contain a responsible purchasing clause entitled “Ethical practices – Corporate responsibility”. This clause has been strengthened since the Group’s signature with UNI Global Union in 2006 of the global agreement on basic social rights, which contains a section on suppliers and subcontractors.
This document ensures that all suppliers and service providers to France Telecom-Orange commit to:
Whenever a product is purchased, recycling and energy consumption are taken into consideration at every step from production through to consumption by our customers. Suppliers are challenged on recycling solutions for their products and product manufacturing methods.
A waste committee bringing together all players within France Telecom-Orange meets regularly to draw up action plans and ensure that the environment is taken into account in Group purchases.
All buyers attend a professional training course when they join France Sourcing to raise their awareness of this quadruple standard, and of CSR. The full management chain is set objectives so that these four aspects, which are integral to a win-win relationship with our economic partners, are incorporated into calls for tender.
After contracts are signed, suppliers' overall economic, environmental, social and ethical performance levels are regularly assessed using a purpose-designed tool, QREDIC®.
QREDIC®, designed by France Telecom-Orange, covers most of the Group's sourcing contracts.
It is gradually being applied to the main affiliates' local contracts.
It means the view on the ground of the supplier's CSR assessment can be taken into account alongside its overall performance.
Each contract is assessed once or twice a year or on request, with the support of the entities concerned.
The results are presented to the suppliers and if necessary, lead to the definition of progress plans.
An assessment of our suppliers' CSR maturity is also routinely carried out by our external provider Ecovadis, for all sourcing categories presenting high CSR risks.
France Telecom-Orange, along with the other main European operators, is keen to drive the development of Corporate Social Responsibility across the whole of the information and communication technology supply chain, particularly in south-east Asia.
The Group was one of the founder members of the "Joint Audit Cooperation" (JAC), which aims to improve the actual implementation of CSR principles in the IT industry, using shared CSR audits.
France Telecom-Orange Sourcing and Supply Chain Code of Conduct