Who Can apply for certification?

1. Companies seeking to independently verify their social record.
2. Companies seeking to independently verify their own social record and that of their contractors.
3. Contractors that produce goods for U.S. and European companies and wish to demonstrate to companies and consumers that they are treating workers fairly.
4. Development or multilateral organisations seeking to ensure that they procure from companies that are not exploitative

Special cases

1) Subsidiaries are not automatically certified as part of the headquarters' decision to apply for certification. For example, the decision on the part of a German company to certify to SA8000 does not include its subsidiaries, although subsidiaries can be cerified separately.

2) The Agricultural sector is not currently addressed under SA8000, although there may be a future SA8001 that addressed agricolture issues and/or a guidance document may be development to interpret these issues for the agricultural sector.

3) Extractive industries, such as oil and mining, are not covered under SA8000, although there may be an SA8002 that addresses these issues and/or guidance document may be develpment to interpret these issues for specific extractive industries.

4) Homework is not currently addressed, but future revisions of SA8000 will address this issue. This is a complex issue, because auditing a home can be considered a violation of privacy. To certify corporate conformance with SA8000, every facility seeking certification must be audited. Thus auditors will visit factories and assess corporate practice on a wide range of issues: child labour, health and safety, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours and compensation. Auditors will also evaluate the state of a company's management systems, necessary to ensure ongoing conformance in each of these areas. The goal is continuous improvement, not exclusion. However, as more and more firms become certified to comply with SA8000, retailers and brand name manufacturers will be able to state their preference for (or decision to deal exclusively with) suppliers in compliance with SA8000. Factories will need to make improvements and abide by a timetable for verifying that problems have been addressed; they must document progress in problem areas. For example, a factory which employed exploitative child labor would need to document, maintain, and effectively communicate policies and procedures that addressed the needs of displaced children (i.e. those put out of work by effective monitoring itself) -- plus take preventive action to avoid a recurrence.