Modern Slavery Supply Chain Risk Assessment Questionnaire

The Modern Slavery Supplier Risk Assessment Questionnaire (MSQ) brings together Norton Rose Fulbright’s extensive global human rights knowledge and experience with Ethixbase360's Third-Party Risk Management platform to help your business identify, mitigate and manage modern slavery risk in your supply chain. 

According to recent estimates, there are more than 50 million people in slavery or forced labor globally. Alarmingly, this number is growing. To address this issue, governments across the world are in the process of adopting and/or strengthening modern slavery, forced labor and human rights reporting and due diligence laws. Amongst other things, these laws require organizations to report publicly on the steps they are taking to combat slavery and trafficking in their supply chains.

In 2020, Ethixbase360 with subject matter input from Norton Rose Fulbright's dedicated international human rights team launched a Modern Slavery Supply Chain Risk Assessment Questionnaire for organizations seeking to comply with global modern slavery laws. The questionnaire assists organizations to identify, manage and report upon modern slavery risks in their supply chains, offering a risk rating to assist them in managing their modern slavery reporting obligations across multiple jurisdictions and plan programs to respond to the risks identified.

Delivered via the Ethixbase360 Third-Party Risk Management platform, the questionnaire was developed by Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers with extensive experience in human rights and related environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Drawing upon Norton Rose Fulbright's global reach, a version of the MSQ was developed specifically in response to the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains, and a version of the MSQ has now been developed in response to the Canadian Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act. 

Satisfy mandatory reporting requirements in multiple jurisdictions with a purpose-built solution

You cannot manage what you do not measure. The MSQ helps to assess the risk of modern slavery and forced labor in your supply chain in order to help your business comply with its reporting obligations. The MSQ allows businesses to: 

• Engage directly with third parties with a pragmatic and easy-to-complete questionnaire resulting in market-leading response rates
• Benefit from a robust scoring methodology designed and periodically updated by Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers based on evolving human rights data
• Understanding specific risk areas at the third-party and supply chain level, allowing you to visualize risk and gain actionable insights
• Scale your business needs with access to an end-to-end third-party risk management platform that can be configured to your changing needs
• Assess and report on the effectiveness of actions taken year-on-year to visualize patterns in high-risk suppliers, as well as ability to configure dashboards and set notifications
• Apply a consistent and shared standard of human rights due dilligence, drawing upon data from the Global Slavery Index, World Bank Governance, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and US Department of Labor. 

Read more about Ethixbase360 and Norton Rose Fulbright's MSQ. Request a demo of MSQ.

Norton Rose Fulbright Australia (“NRFA”) receives a licence fee for each MSQ sale. This fee is consideration for NRFA’s development and maintenance of the MSQ. Under lawyers’ ethical rules, when a client buys a licence, NRFA will need the client’s informed consent for NRFA to continue acting for the client.

Disclaimer: The modern slavery module provides an indicative risk rating only. The accuracy of the score is dependent on a number of factors, including third-party data sources and supplier inputs. None of the module and its outputs constitutes legal advice or creates a lawyer-client relationship between Norton Rose Fulbright and any user.