SSCI Closes Second Public Consultation on Social Criteria for At-Sea Operations Scope

The CGF Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) has closed its latest public consultation on the Social Criteria for its At-Sea Operations (ASO) Scope. This was the second public consultation opened for the scope; the first public consultation held on the ASO Social Criteria, as well as the scope’s Scheme Management Criteria, was held in summer 2020, and the second consultation was organised after the Social Criteria was updated based on stakeholder feedback and interviews. The ASO scope is the product of the ongoing collaboration between the SSCI and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) to develop a social compliance benchmark for the seafood industry.

Seven stakeholder organisations provided comments on the ASO Social Criteria during this public consultation, and in parallel, the SSCI and GSSI also held two stakeholder webinars on 4th February for Asia-based and North America/Europe-based stakeholders. The webinars were well-attended by 23 participants from 19 organisations (13 business associations/NGOs/academics, and four Scheme Owners, and two companies). The SSCI and GSSI both extend their appreciation and thanks to all participants for providing insightful feedback.

The SSCI’s At-Sea Operations Working Group is now reviewing and integrating the input from this consultation. The SSCI plans to finalise the benchmark criteria for the ASO Scope in spring of this year, after which third-party social compliance certification and sustainability programmes sector will be able to apply for SSCI benchmarking to demonstrate their alignment with the criteria.

More details about the CGF’s collaboration with the GSSI are available here, and information about the development of the SSCI’s Social and Scheme Management Criteria for the ASO scope is available here.

Stakeholders are also welcome to reach out with any other questions and comments to the SSCI team at ssci@theconsumergoodsforum.com.