ESG in Practice

 

(p.44)

…

 

(p.45)

 

Managing ESG Risk in our Supply Chain 

All suppliers must adhere to Vitasoy’s Supplier Responsibility Principles (SRP). We ask new suppliers to read and sign this document before commencing business with us. In 2023/24, we updated the SRP and expanded the scope of suppliers in Mainland China that are required to endorse them. This now extends to all direct suppliers and more than 120 indirect suppliers, representing 80% of indirect supplier spending. 
…

Segmentation analysis 

During the reporting period, we engaged an external consultant to conduct a segmentation analysis categorising suppliers based on specific criteria, such as location, size, industry, and capabilities… The consultant evaluated social and environmental risks with particular focus on forced labour and deforestation to reflect the rising priority of these issues from a regulatory perspective.
…

Statement on modern slavery

Vitasoy is committed to proactively eliminating risks of modern slavery in our value chain. Following the implementation of legislation in Australia, Vitasoy Australia Products Pty. Ltd. (VAP), has published its first Modern Slavery Act Statement. VAP has an Anti-Slavery Policy and will conduct regular risk assessments and implement mitigation measures should there be issues found.
…

(p.46)

Sustainable farming

Vitasoy is committed to ensuring ingredients used in our products are grown sustainably. We engage with our contract farm suppliers to manage their environmental and social impacts in accordance with our Sustainable Farming Guideline (SFG), which stipulates requirements for proper management of fertilisers, pests, weeds and disease, land, water, waste and energy and carbon emissions as well as biodiversity protection and social responsibilities.
…

(p.47)

Zero deforestation

Vitasoy has a Group Zero Deforestation Policy, which applies to all agricultural and forest-based raw materials in our value chain. We recognise higher-level deforestation risks applying to pulp and paper, soy and palm oil as well as risks associated with other commodities, such as sugar.

Suppliers were classified into three groups based on their impact on the issuer's product quality or brand reputation. This enables the issuer to prioritise and focus resources on engaging with the most critical suppliers. For example, during the reporting period, the issuer engaged with 30 top-spend direct suppliers in a pilot exercise to voluntarily disclose emissions data. This exercise helped the issuer establish baseline information for its supply chain, which will be helpful for enhancing the issuer’s scope 3 carbon accounting inventory going forward.

The issuer has developed a number of sustainability guidelines, principles and policies, and arranged trainings to promote sustainable practices amongst its suppliers.

The issuer has also engaged an external consultant to conduct segmentation analysis of its suppliers, and identified forced labour and deforestation as being increasingly important issues from a regulatory perspective. The issuer then disclosed measures adopted to minimise risks arising from forced labour and deforestation. These disclosures could boost readers' confidence that the issuer had thoroughly considered the ESG risks along its supply chain, and put in place measures to address such risks. 

(p.33)

VTech is committed to designing and manufacturing products that meet the highest international and local health and safety standards. All VTech products follow robust specifications on banned and restricted substances. Our products, including TEL products and ELPs, sold in the US and Europe are RoHS 2.0 compliant, and our products sold in the US and Europe fully comply with REACH.

…

Upholding the highest quality standards of our products, all VTech’s manufacturing facilities for TEL products, ELPs and CMS are certified with ISO 9001. VTech has implemented a comprehensive quality management system framework to set up quality assurance policies and procedures to address the product quality and reliability on a regular basis, as well as improve the work efficiency.

…

All VTech products are fully covered by our warranty. We have set up different communication channels, such as call centres and social networking platform that can be accessed around the world, where customers can raise their concerns directly to us.

 

To improve the quality, durability and performance of our products, we have set up our in-house product quality and reliability validation laboratories (labs) at the manufacturing sites of our product lines. All our products must go through reliability tests during different design stages.

 

…

(p. 35)

The reliability lab of TEL products is designed based on the international requirements and standards, and our UL Safety Lab is the first telecommunication manufacturing facility to comply with UL 60950 in Guangdong. Our in-house physical and chemical laboratory of ELPs is a China National Accreditation Service (CNAS) certified laboratory for ASTM F963 & EN71-1 (specific test items) standards since 2011 and complies with ISO 17025 standards.

Being a provider of electronic learning products, the issuer has clearly identified product safety, quality and performance as its key focuses under Aspect B6: Product Responsibility. The issuer then provided extensive disclosure on its process of quality control and testing along its value chain, from sourcing of materials to after-sales quality management. The disclosure also stated clearly the standards that its products, manufacturing facilities and quality control laboratories had complied with, and actions taken to follow up on reported cases.