The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and similar laws developing globally are prompting companies to materially enhance their capabilities to identify forced labor supply chain risk. TrusTrace, a global SaaS company with a market-leading platform for product traceability and compliance, today announced a strategic partnership with Kharon, a leading provider in research and data analytics on global trade compliance, sanctions, and other commercial threats. The alliance will help facilitate risk monitoring and evidence collection to prove compliance with the UFLPA law and similar laws globally.
TrusTrace is currently supporting several of the world’s largest fashion brands with data collection for UFLPA compliance, and the Kharon partnership will help strengthen processes around risk identification and validation. “Retail and fashion companies around the world need to understand who their suppliers are and what materials they are using in order to comply with the UFLPA law,” said TrusTrace Co-Founder and CEO Shameek Ghosh. “Our partnership with Kharon will make it easy to assess the risk of individual suppliers’ ties to forced labor with up-to-date information integrated directly from Kharon’s platform.”
TrusTrace customers will be able to leverage Kharon’s risk insights – which highlights suppliers with increased risk of exposure to forced labor – directly on the TrusTrace platform. Suppliers presented via TrusTrace will continuously be evaluated against the high-risk entities identified by Kharon; if there is a match, the supplier risk will be flagged.
Risk flagging is an essential initial step towards managing forced labor risk in supply chains. Working with TrusTrace and Kharon, retail and fashion companies now have the opportunity to adhere to regulatory guidance and enhance their investigations and due diligence. The TrusTrace platform continuously updates Kharon data, as well as new supplier information associated with a users’ company. The integrated solution allows users to immediately validate whether flagged risk is present in their supply chains and ensures continuous, timely risk identification.
“As forced labor awareness continues to accelerate, and as global regulations focusing on forced labor increase, businesses must recognize that the risks of inaction are simply too great,” said Kit Conklin, Vice President of Global Client Engagement at Kharon. “By leveraging Kharon’s data alongside the powerful due diligence solutions of TrusTrace, companies can proactively mitigate risk to protect themselves from the legal, financial, and reputational fallout that now accompanies exploitation in their supply chains.”
Additionally, in the next two quarters, TrusTrace will release some exciting product improvements for the UFLPA. TrusTrace is a leader in fashion supply chain traceability, providing global fashion and retail brands with verified data in real-time, as materials and finished goods move through the supply chain. The technology empowers brands and suppliers around the world to standardize how supply chain and material traceability data is captured, digitized and shared. With all trusted supply chain traceability data stored on a single platform, brands get the right evidence in the right place to substantiate product claims and meet regulatory compliance.
Through its open architecture, the TrusTrace platform integrates seamlessly with retailer, manufacturer and supplier systems, as well as other third-parties, such as certification agencies, lifecycle datasets and other sustainability solution providers. With more than 8,000 suppliers, 30,000 facilities, 250,000 products and over $18 billion worth of goods tracked on the platform, TrusTrace is a business-critical platform for companies who see sustainability as being fundamental to their DNA.
For more information, visit www.trustrace.com.
